The First Annual William McKinley Battle Royale
by Charlie A.R.C
Summary: In a last ditch attempt to decrease bullying at William McKinley High the faculty develops an idea that they hope will save them all from the lowest rating their school has ever seen. Can the students who find themselves unwilling participants band together and settle differences? Or will the school be outsmarted and see the tables turned by a ragtag group of teens they created?
1. Let the Game Begin

**AN: This is an AU fic, ye be warned, in which the faculty is being forced into taking action on the bullying at WMHS. Accept they don't go about it in a normal way, though at WMHS this may be as close as they would ever get. The characters are going to be slightly OOC, but I hope to retain vital characteristics obviously. And because of it's AU nature the kids are just going to act different than they would have if life had gone as it did in the show. Mainly my point is I knooooowww it may take some getting used to. I just hope it's enjoyable, we're just here to have some fun, right? Right. Onward!**

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Pulling up in front of the ancient brick building exactly three months and four days since the last time she had set foot on the premises was, in her opinion, much worse than it had been the first time. She had been told by her fathers that first day of her freshmen year of high school that it was all straightforward from that moment; that it just may be the most nerve wracking experience in her entire life, but compared to the feelings ravaging her on the first day of her sophomore year it was laughable—and last year she had only made it halfway through the first day before vomiting.

"It's not too late to allow me to homeschool myself you know," Rachel Berry grumbled while looping her backpack over a shoulder. The two men in the front seats of the SUV smiled at her encouragingly.

"Rachel, we know last year was difficult for you," one said. All Rachel could think was, no, in fact, they did not; because while Rachel had told them enough to hint at how horrid it was she had kept quiet for the most part, because she was just that mortified. She wanted to be coddled a little maybe, but she had absolutely no desire to be pitied.

"But we believe that high school is an irreplaceable life experience," the other continued. "And if you are going to be able to make even just one of your dreams come true then you will need an actual high school to list on resumes."

"Is that why you're forcing me to join clubs?" Rachel snapped. "Even though I told you how miserable that would make me? Even though there isn't a proper music program in the whole school?"

"There is a glee club, Sweetie," they corrected. "We called the school yesterday to confirm that."

"The director is a pedophile!" Rachel protested, yanking on the door handle and shoving it open.

"Important life experience!" they yelled at her back as she marched into the school with her head down.

"Yeah, uh huh, I'm sure consorting with a known pedophile is the exact life experience that I'll regret having," she mumbled under her breath.

She had her head down, hiding behind her hair, as she tried to navigate her way to her locker without running into anyone who she didn't want to see, which, she'd admit, was virtually everyone. The halls were crowded with teenagers greeting each other enthusiastically after having spent the summer hanging out with the exact people they were practically sexually harassing in their excitement.

Rachel rolled her eyes and scoffed, her head finally lifting several feet before she would reach her locker, deciding that this year would be different. She was the one who would decide how others affected her, and if she had been strong enough to never back down last year, she told herself, this year would be mediocre in the long run. She knew what was coming, so she decided to march to her inevitable fate with her head held high and the same disdainfully, superior, holier than thou look she had spent the past three months and four days perfecting firmly in place.

Her hand reached out to turn the combination on her lock as she swiped her eyes flippantly down the hallway, seeing no one she found the least bit threatening, her lips spread in a confident smile. And then, just before she clicked the last number into place her eyes caught sight of the distinctive swagger of the only boy at William McKinley that intimidated even other jocks and most teachers into crowning him untouchable, legendary, _Puck_.

And, yes, students, teachers, and administrators alike called Noah Puckerman nothing except _Puck_. He had long ago risen above the standards other students were held to, and did whatever he wanted, and no one said anything about it. Because he was terrifying in that dangerous, evil genius, I'll get you fired or ostracized quicker than you can say, "I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you, let me help you pick that up. By the way, my name is Rachel Berry."

Looking back Rachel thinks it was her introducing herself with the obvious obliviousness to who he was that had rubbed him the wrong way that first day. If it had been anyone other than the junior, star left tackle, _Puck_ then she thinks her high school existence would be just as normally miserable as the average teenager, instead of being unrightfully targeted by everyone. And she did mean everyone; the rest of the school had created her a personalized rung at the very bottom of the social ladder for her very own.

Watching him and the rest of the football team walk through the highway was a lot like what she imagined it would have been like watching Moses part the Red Sea. All they had to do was show up, and people jumped and shoved to get out of their way. His eyes landed on her almost immediately. It didn't matter that she was tiny, he could spot her from across the lunchroom, as she walked by outside. It was like she had a built in signal that he could hone in on no matter how many people or walls separated them. She suspected it made it all the easier for him to hurl slushies at her face.

He was nearly a foot taller than her, broad and built like it was his purpose in life to tackle others over the possession of an insignificant and oddly shaped ball. His eyes were hazel, but most days they were more green than brown, which Rachel knows because she spends a ludicrous amount of time trying very hard to know how likely it is that he's going to fling a frozen beverage on her based solely on his mood, and not because she finds him and his ridiculous Mohawk at all attractive. His eyes are incredibly expressive, though she doesn't think he is aware of the fact, because he likes to stomp around looking impervious to everything.

His eyes, today golden-brown, linger on her before he pulls them away while chuckling at something Finn Hudson, his dopey overgrown quarterback friend, said. Rachel sighed. He was tired and looked mellow, which meant that she was safe and maybe that he was high. She wasn't sure, because she thought he had stopped with the drugs around the time last year when scouts started showing up at games and calling about him. She wouldn't complain if he had taken the hobby back up though, because she rarely ever had slushies thrown at her when he was blitzed since he was either too subdued to bother or just decided to actually drink them halfway through the walk to find her.

She preferred him high, she decided as he walked by. Her only fond memory from last year was of him, sky high and doped out of his mind. She had been hiding from him in the abandoned section of the library during her lunch period when he had sauntered over to where she was sitting in a ratty, long forgotten arm chair looking over sheet music and humming, and sprawled onto the chair beside her, slushy in hand.

She had flinched away from him and had even covered her face with her papers waiting for him to dump the drink on her. She had stayed that way until she heard him chuckle and sip loudly at the last of the giant drink. Lowering the papers slowly and peaking at him from over the tops she had glowered at him. Which had only caused him to chuckle at her some more. He had just set the cup down on the floor and slouched down more comfortably in the seat.

"What are you doing?" she had asked him as quietly as possible, fearing that if she spooked him he'd start in on some kind of horrid verbal insult like what she got from the Cheerios.

"Chillin' here," he had murmured. "What are you doing?"

"I was reading sheet music," she had told him, pinching herself to make sure she was awake.

"You were hiding from me," he then told her, knowing he was right.

"Of course I was," she had snapped back at him.

"You don't have to," he had said, laying his head back and staring at her.

"Of course I do," she groused at that. Then she had rolled her eyes, right in his face, which is still to this day the closest she had ever gotten to standing up to him.

"Nah, I can find you either way," he'd said. "I've got this stupid fuckin' Rachel Berry sixth sense. Mostly it's useless and annoying. Like I need to be able to find you at the drop of a hat, or know you're upset or somethin'. Fuckin' goddam ridiculous."

"Excuse me?" she'd demanded.

He had just shook his head and asked her about her music. Then he had proceeded to have a civil and pleasurable conversation with her.

"Do me a favor, would ya?" he had requested right before the bell had rung out signaling the next period. "Change your clothes and pretend I threw my drink on you."

"That is just absurd!" she had shrieked.

He had shrugged his shoulders, ran a hand over his mohawk and then ambled out of the library at a leisurely pace. Rachel, for her part, had changed her clothes and spent the rest of the day pretending to be upset about the non-slushy-ing when the rest of the jocks or the Cheerios had asked her if she was feeling refreshed.

Rachel slammed her locker and headed off to her first period class, ignoring the jabs and insults coming her way. She knew if Puck wasn't out for her today all she had to look out for were the Cheerios, and they tended to ignore her until she did something to set them off, like talk or make a friend.

The rest of the day had been fairly uneventful for Rachel. She had heard throughout the day that it hadn't been that way for everyone, however. Kurt Hummel had apparently not been let out of his weekly dumpster session, and she thought she had heard someone say that Artie Abrams had been locked in a portable toilet. And while she had been spared of the slushy facial, not everyone on their normal list had been as fruitful.

Thinking back on the day as she dutifully filed into the gymnasium for the last half of the final period of the day for an abruptly called school wide assembly, Rachel concluded this was the best day she could have possibly hoped for. She had even managed to get that creepy pedophile Sandy fired, and she hadn't even had to lie. She would admit that she had exaggerated quite a bit, but if her fathers were going to force her into participation, the fact that she wanted nothing more than to be in an amazing glee club that would help her on her way to Broadway aside, she refused to do it with an untalented sexual predator in the same room.

Rachel found a seat in the middle of a cluster of Audio Video kids and smiled at them in thanks for allowing her to sit with them, or more like near them. But they didn't move away like a lot of other people would have done, so she established again that this was a win. Teachers stood in a line in the center of the gym on either side of where Principal Figgins was with a microphone and a large glass bowl filled with slips of paper. To his left was cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester and to his right was Spanish teacher Mr. Schuester, each of them looked like they weren't sure how they felt about the current goings on. Coach Sylvester looked like she did when she learned there was a trophy out there that she hadn't actually won yet, and Mr. Schuester, well he looked nervous but proud.

"Oh my God," the girl sitting next to her groaned, "We're being reaped."

"What?" Rachel asked. She looked over at her and was bemused by the look of genuine terror on the girl's face.

"They're going to make us fight to the death," she explained. "Like in that movie."

"That's nonsensical," Rachel replied. Then she turned to face Mr. Figgins as he tapped on the mic.

"Students, children, settle down," he began. "It has been brought to my attention that William McKinley has developed a severe bullying problem, and that because of this we will be losing a large chunk of our funding. In order to rectify this situation, and so that we can continue to offer running water, we have come up with a solution. Ms. Pillsbury, if you would please explain."

Then he and his giant fish bowl stepped to the side so the guidance counselor could step up. She looked up at the rows of teenagers and smiled in a finicky way.

"H-hello," she said, jumping at the projected sound of her own voice. "We have decided that the best way to go about fixing the bullying problem here at McKinley is to take a proactive stance. We are going to begin by strengthening the relationships among all of you. How are we going to do this you ask?"

Here she paused to see if people were agreeing that they were, indeed, asking. Someone yelled out an uninspired comment about her lack of a soul. So she continued, seemingly just more enthusiastic.

"We will be selecting twenty-four of you at random to join two teams of twelve. These teams will be headed by Coach Sue and Mr. Schuester and will engage in a yearlong competition. The point of this competition is to provide a model for the rest of the school of diverse and amicable relationships and to prove to you all that you need to work together and learn to respect one another in order to obtain a goal. Each week the advisor will assign their team a task and the judging panel, which includes Principal Figgins, Coach Beiste, and myself, will determine who has won. At the end of the school year the team who has won the most of the challenges will be exempt from all finals and will receive letters of recommendation for any prospective colleges they are applying to."

At the end of her speech all the teachers smiled and clapped, looking like they'd managed to cure cancer or end world hunger. Rachel felt like this might be the second year in a row that she'd vomit on the first day of school. Luckily, she assured herself, there were hundreds of students and the possibility that she would be chosen was very small.

"I will select names randomly from this bowl," Figgins was now saying. "And if your name is called join your advisor and teammates."

He indicated to Coach Sue and Mr. Schuester who now stood slightly ahead of him and further apart. Rachel regretted not pulling out all the stops over the whole homeschooling thing.

"First twelve will join Mr. Schuester," Figgins said, his hand swirling around in the bowl of names.

And Rachel realized, they were being reaped, and it might actually have been a more appealing event if they were indeed going to be fighting to the death. Because, Rachel feared, the emotional turmoil this was going to create would be worse than a quick and decisive death at the hands of deranged Cheerios. Rachel had no doubt about that.

She wasn't the only student who looked terrorized by the mere thought of being chosen, and she could see people trying to slip out of the room, probably with the hope that if they weren't here to hear their names they would be replaced. Others though, looked like they were being hand delivered their dying wish upon the wings of baby angles who were accompanied by singing telegrams.

"Our first member of Team Schuester is," Figgins began before taking a dramatic pause. Rachel considered throwing her shoe at him. "Kurt Hummel!"

Kurt was sitting several rows ahead of Rachel, so she was able to watch him rise slowly and walk to the front of the room. Kurt was the only openly gay kid at McKinley, who Rachel secretly craved nothing more than to be friends with. She knew they had tons of things in common and she knew he liked to sing as much as she did. But she had never approached him, knowing that he was dealing with enough bullying of his own without adding bullying for being Rachel Berry's friend to reasons to bully Kurt. He looked just about how Rachel felt; like he was considering homeschooling.

As Kurt shook hands with Mr. Schuester Figgins called the next name.

"Santana Lopez!"

Santana came bounding down from somewhere above Rachel, her high pony tail and Cheerio skirt bouncing around her. She looked like she couldn't care any less. She walked straight up to the principal and demanded to be moved to Coach Sue's team. Figgins refused her and the towering, angry coach and sent her on her way to Mr. Schuester. She refused his hand and stood as far away from them as she deemed acceptable.

"Finn Hudson!" Figgins called, glaring over at Santana.

The tall, fumbling quarterback, jogged down the stairs. He looked faintly like he wasn't sure why his name had been called. He shook hands with Mr. Schuester and Kurt before standing next to Santana, who looked like she wished he hadn't.

"Artie Abrams!"

The wheelchair bound boy wheeled over from his place at the edge of the room, looking very resigned to his fate and took his place beside Kurt.

"Brittany S. Pierce!"

A blonde Cheerio followed Santana's path down the bleachers and skipped right over to her, smiling broadly. Rachel was positive the girl had no idea what was happening.

"Blain Anderson!" Figgins called, his glare at Santana lessening as she seemed appeased by Brittany's addition to her team.

Blain was new to their school this year, and Rachel felt really bad for him. He looked utterly confused as he took his place. He smiled at Kurt and began to whisper to the other boy. She guessed it was about the bullying as she watched his face go from confused to outraged to resigned.

"Mercedes Jones!"

A black girl who Rachel knew was in her grade walked confidently over to Mr. Schuester and shook his hand before standing between him and the two Cheerios and Finn. Rachel silently applauded her bravado.

"Quinn Fabray!" Figgins called.

This name set Coach Sue off as she watched her head Cheerio nimbly race down to her. They both put up quite the fuss about Quinn joining the opposite team. Rachel was surprised that Figgins held his ground. Quinn, Rachel knew, would be problematic for the Spanish teacher's team, as she would probably be the least likely of the Cheerios to align herself with him or anyone she considered to be of a lesser social standing than herself.

"Mike Chang!" Figgins practically growled.

And Rachel decided that things were definitely going downhill now. Mike Chang was the first senior to be called, and he was without doubt _Puck's_ one and only partner in crime. Sure he liked Finn, but he was a junior and he confused Puck with how he could be so actual stupid. Mike Chang and Puck had been thicker than thieves since the dawn of time, and while he was quiet and certainly the less malicious of the two he was still _Puck's_.

And that was dangerous. Very dangerous, Rachel nodded to herself. Because if, and at this she sent up a silent prayer that he wasn't, he was chosen on the opposite team the faculty could kiss their little project goodbye, because Puck just wouldn't play and he would make them regret even trying. And if Puck managed to not get called then who knows what will happen, because if there is one thing Rachel is sure about it is that this little social experiment isn't going to go without a hitch to begin with. And now they're going to have to factor in _Puck_. She feared for everyone's safety, and their sanity.

"Tina Cohen-Chang!" Figgins sounded like he may have figured out the same thing Rachel had as he hadn't even waited for Mike to get to his team before rushing on.

Rachel peered around trying to catch sight of Puck, as the small Asian girl shuffled forward and stood beside, and almost behind Mercedes. She caught sight of him, leaned back against the wall on the very top row of the bleachers. He was slouched; his head leaned back against the wall, with his feet on one of two empty spaces available. The other was the recently vacated seat of Mike Chang to his right.

His eyes were narrowed as he watched the goings on, looking the entire world like he was considering ripping the microphone from Figgins and sending everyone on their merry way. He seemed to be restraining himself, however, and it made Rachel wonder just how far up the food chain this silly game came from. She was sure that if it was just Figgins and the teachers he would have laughed and led half the school in a walk out, but there he was motionless and concentrating, and very, very sober. Rachel shivered as his eyes met hers and he held her gaze.

And then she heard it. Her heart paused in her chest and she was positive her face was etched to display just how petrified she was.

"Rachel Berry!" Figgins called out her name.

_Puck_ leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as Rachel tried to fix her face. She was frozen turned around in her seat and she was horrified at how long it was taking her to move. But then he tipped his head, just the slightest amount, gesturing to the front of the room. She twisted herself and jumped to her feet before scurrying down to Mr. Schuester.

Her heart was going wild, rebelling against the rest of her, willing her feet to change course and sprint from the gym and refuse to ever come back. But she didn't, and inwardly she cursed and applauded her determination, she steeled her face, plastered a huge smile on and shook Mr. Schuester's hand and moved to stand beside, and slightly in front of Tina. She was a couple of feet away from where Mike stood with Finn and the Cheerios.

And then Figgins called out the name of the last member of their team, and she wasn't alone in the giggle that slipped out when his voice shook as he said it.

"_Puck_."

Rachel watched as he rose slowly to his full height. He shoved his hands into his pockets and let his combat boots slam forcefully into each step as he descended slowly towards the motley assemblage that was his appointed team. And if he hadn't been coming down the stairs, Rachel would have made a mental comparison somewhere along the lines of Figgins accidentally raising Lucifer from the deepest, foulest circle of Hell.

The entire gym was silent to Rachel, who was positive that she had temporarily lost the ability to hear. Puck bypassed Mr. Schuester and everyone else and made straight for Mike to do some strange handshake/fist bump type thing. Rachel stood like that, with Puck now to her left, as they watched the twelve members of the other team be called. She tried to pay them her undivided attention, but all her mind could concentrate on was how wrong she had been when she had declared the day a success, and she almost laughed out loud and the prospect of the rest of her year and who she would be spending her time with. She was almost overwhelmed with how potentially awful it was going to be and she had to squeeze her eyes shut and sing Barbara Streisand in her head to keep from sobbing openly.

She didn't open her eyes until she felt Puck shift, brushing into her shoulder. She looked up at him but he was pretending to listen to Finn and Quinn complain about how this was going to ruin their image as the perfect couple.

Rachel rolled her eyes and shifted so that she was no longer in contact with him. She could feel his eyes on her as she looked over to see that the opposing team was made up of nothing but jocks and Cheerios. Rachel very nearly complained about rigging, but she was cut off by Figgins.

"Welcome to the First Annual William McKinley Battle Royale!"

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**I'd love to know thoughts, and if there's any interest in continuing with it. =)**

**XO Charlie **


	2. The First Alliance

**I don't own any rights to Glee. Gosh, I hate disclaimers.**

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Rachel stood in the center of the gym and watched as the rest of the school left as quickly as possible. She was surrounded by eleven of the most ill fitted team members that could have come out of Finggin's stupid little fish bowl and one Spanish teacher who for some unknown otherworldly reason looked as though he had just found a winning lottery ticket and not like he'd just been put in charge of a group of teens who most certainty were not feeling like they'd won any amount of money. In fact Rachel felt as though she had just been told her entire life was a lie, that one of her fathers was actually a woman and that she couldn't carry a tune to save her life.

"I'm going to vomit," she whispered.

"Get away from me Berry," Puck growled and looked at her like she may just be the last living carrier of the Bubonic Plague.

Tina patted her awkwardly on the back and Mercedes produced a half full bottle of water from her bag that she handed over to her. Rachel smiled and thanked her quietly. They had all been detained from leaving by an anxious looking Mr. Schuester, who had informed them that they would be having their first meeting immediately.

"Some of us have other places to be," Quinn snapped looking over her shoulder at where the last person to leave had just disappeared. "I have a meeting with Coach Sylvester that starts right after school. I can't be late, I'm the captain."

"My dads are waiting for me outside," Rachel agreed.

Though that seemed to be the wrong thing to do, she thought, after Quinn sent her a hateful glare and muttered something under her breath. Rachel didn't hear it but she was sure it was offensive. However, before Rachel could demand for her to tell her what she'd said their advisor stepped in.

"Alright, alright," Mr. Schuester said. "We're just going to be a couple minutes, school's not even officially over yet. I just wanted to take this time to come up with a day that works for everyone to meet after school. So let's hash out our schedules."

"Football practices Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday," Finn supplied, Puck and Mike nodding along with him.

"Okay. Do the three of you have any other after school activities?" the Spanish teacher asked.

None replied but they all shook their heads that, no, they did not.

"And Cheerios?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"We practice every day," Quinn retorted. "It's our gym credit."

"Alright, Kurt? Artie?" the teacher prodded.

"I don't have any conflictions," Kurt supplied.

"Neither do I," Mercedes added.

Tina nodded along with Kurt and Mercedes. Rachel knew that she was painfully shy and tended to avoid talking whenever possible.

"I've got AV Club," Artie said. "But only on Mondays."

"Okay, good. That leaves Blaine and Rachel," Mr. Schuester said. He clapped his hands together happily.

"I just got here," Blaine explained. "I was going to join show choir."

"There isn't currently a show choir at McKinley," Mr. Schuester informed him sadly. "Mr. Reynolds was let go earlier today."

"What? Why?" Mercedes asked.

"Because he was a pervert," Rachel grumbled.

Everyone gathered around her looked at her like she was some sort of freak show oddity. She just crossed her arms over her chest and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Anyways," Mr. Schuester continued, trying to get them back on track. "Rachel when are you free?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and laughed, "Like she actually has anything to do after school."

The teacher shot Quinn a reprimanding look and Rachel seriously considered telling them she was never available because she'd rather be expelled than be involved with this insanity. She managed to hold her tongue only because she knew how disappointed her fathers would have been in her.

"I have dance lessons Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, Mr. Schuester," Rachel bit out. If Rachel had been any less of a person she would have stuck her tongue out at the Cheerio. "But I might be able to move times around if it becomes absolutely necessary."

"That's very helpful Rachel," Mr. Schuester smiled encouragingly at her. "But for now I think it looks like Wednesday is going to work out for everyone."

He then produced a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket and handed it to Artie.

"He's a magician!" Rachel heard Brittany gush. Rachel wondered how she'd managed to make it to her junior year at all.

"Everyone write down their cell phone numbers and their e-mails," Mr. Schuester said ignoring Brittany's outburst, probably because he was wondering the same thing as Rachel. "I'll e-mail out the information to each of you before we meet up this Wednesday to get started on our first assignment."

"Why are we going to need to contact each other?" Santana asked, looking at the paper that had just been handed to her with half the groups' info already on it like it had personally affronted her. "I don't want these losers prank calling me."

"That's highly unlikely Santana," Rachel snapped at her, just wishing to be able to go home and try to come to terms with this horrid event on her own. "If anyone pranks anyone surly it will be one of you pranking us."

Everyone knew who Rachel was referring to when she said "one of you" and "us". Even Mr. Schuester looked like he was well aware of the statistical probabilities of which of his students would ever feel the need to prank call someone.

"Oh, don't play the victim, Berry," Santana griped.

"I happen to know for a fact that before my fathers took out our land line that you were the one calling me making all those RuPaul references," Rachel replied flippantly, heading towards the door to get away from all of them least she cry or something in front of them. "I'm a "freak" not an idiot."

"First meeting Wednesday right after school," their teacher called to the backs of the retreating students.

Rachel was the first out the door and was into the front seat of the waiting SUV quicker than any of them would have thought possible. She slammed the door and dumped her bag at her feet. Her father, Leroy, quirked an eyebrow at her as he began the drive to her dance studio.

"How was your day?" he asked since his normally chatty daughter seemed to be intent on remaining silent for the first time in written history.

"I was chosen at random to participate in a fight to the death. Last student standing doesn't have to take finals," she deadpanned.

"Excuse me?" her father demanded slamming on the break so he didn't run the stop sign he hadn't seen until the last moment.

"It's called The First Annual William McKinley Battle Royale," Rachel explained. "I was chosen as one member of a team of twelve who will engage in a yearlong competition with an opposing group of twelve. Apparently, it's going to cure all mental afflictions the student body of McKinley has and we're all going to be one big happy family. Like Barney."

"You're going to fight to the death?" he questioned. Rachel thought she heard the beginnings of a giggle.

"Yes," she retorted.

"I highly doubt Barney approves of that," he countered. "But I think you'll do great."

And that was that. Rachel couldn't get her mind off of it all through her dance lesson, and it was the worst she'd had since she was four years old and someone had told her that she didn't have any talent. She had since learned that other four year olds were not good sources of criticism.

Hours later, after she had apologized profusely to her instructor for not having her heart in her dancing that day and after homework and dinner with her fathers, where she had once again managed to convince them that school was bearable enough and that they really didn't need to worry, she crawled into her bed and went about plugging eleven new phone numbers into her iPhone. She didn't know why she was doing it, she highly doubted anyone else was, but something deep inside her, near the place where she tucked away the horrors of how lonely she often felt, smiled as she typed in Kurt, Artie, Mercedes, Tina, and Blaine's names. And she grinned evilly as she entered _Noah_ into her contacts.

She had just set her alarm and plugged her cell in to charge and lay down to sleep when she was startled by her phone's text tone going off. The screen lit up her dark room displaying a text from Blaine.

**Hey, it's Blaine. =) Where do you take your dance lessons?** He asked.

Rachel smiled, feeling the day perk up just a bit.

**I go to DanceFree Studios. Though there are 2 other studios in Lima.** Rachel told him.

**Are there any male openings in your class level?** Blaine's response was fast and Rachel was giddy that he hadn't bothered to ask about the other studios.

**Of course. =) There aren't many guys who want to dance in this town.** She told him.

**I kind of got that idea after that weird assembly today. WTF was that?** He asked.

**Bullying is really bad here. Idk what they think this is going to accomplish though. I'm sure mostly it's about keeping their funding, because otherwise they turn a blind eye. Especially since Puck was forced to participate.** Rachel knew she was being wordy, but this was the longest conversation she'd had with anyone her age in years, excluding Puck and the Lost Afternoon, as she liked to call it.

**So it wasn't just my imagination when Figgs trembled in fear when he called that guy's name? lol **Blaine responded, apparently not at all off putted by Rachel's enthusiasm.

**Not at all. I wouldn't be surprised if he had actually wet himself.** Rachel told Blaine, laying back and snuggling into her pillows.

**Lmao. What's this Puck guy's deal? **Blaine asked.

**He's a senior. He invented the slushy facial. And I don't think he's ever lost a fight in his life. Even teachers are intimidated by him, partially because of his sheer size and attitude and partially because he can be downright scary smart when he decides to put any effort in.** Rachel explained.

**Slushy facial? **Was his quick response.

**He tosses slushies from the 7-11 at people. ** She told him.

**That is cruel and unusual. Has it happened to you? **Blaine asked.

**Quite often. I'm his favorite target. **Rachel admitted.

**This game is sounding like less and less of a good idea. **He responded.

**I'm predicating that it's going to be a resounding fail. **Rachel lamented.

**Well at least we're in it together! =) Do you want to meet in front of school to face the day together? **He offered.

**Potential slushy facials and all?** Rachel asked, trying to not to be afraid that he would back out.

**Bring it on! **He told her.

**I'll see you then. =) **She typed out her reply.

Tuesday morning had come too slowly in Rachel's opinion, she had been eagerly anticipating meeting up with Blaine since their conversation had come to a close. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined that something positive would have come out of yesterday, and while, yes, she was still dreading the rest of the school year because no matter the intentions of this project she couldn't see it going any other direction than down. And she was very scared of how the rest of the school's population was going to react to the team she was a part of, mainly because it included six people who they all considered too important to be in the presence of the other six, she couldn't help but smile because even though she knew it was going to be Hell, she thought maybe, at the very least, she wouldn't be alone in it.

Tuesday had been the best day she'd had, which is what she had told a very skeptical Blaine at the end of the day. He thought she was out of her mind, she knew, because they had both been slushied almost immediately by two guys from Coach Sue's team and Blaine had been unceremoniously outed by the Coach herself when she screamed at him over a megaphone that being openly gay here was going to cost them the Battle in the long run. Rachel had been proud because he had taken it all in stride commenting that he hadn't wanted to hide who he was anyways.

No one from their team had acted any differently, however, and Rachel wasn't the least bit surprised by that fact. Artie and Tina managed to fly under the radar by spending any of their free time either in AV room or art room respectively and the only time Rachel had seen Kurt was when he had caught sight of she and Blaine heading into the library together; he had broken eye contact and then accidently walked into his open locker door. Quinn, Santana and Brittany had followed Mercedes into the lunch room and laughed pointedly when a fellow Cheerio surprised her with a slushy—well Quinn and Santana had laughed, Brittany had simply strolled around her asking when the school had started serving slushies.

Rachel had only seen Puck in passing, and by passing she meant she had drug Blaine past him quickly when he had started in on one of the hockey players that were on Coach Sue's team, the Stick guy with the mullet. It was widely known that sometime in the middle of last year the guy had pissed Puck off in the extreme, because while Puck was known for fighting, he typically didn't do it in the middle of a crowded lunch room. Stick, or whatever his name was, had been treated for a concussion and suspended for a week. _Puck_ had a short talk with Figgins and then spent the time while Stick was absent subtly sabotaging the hockey team; they hadn't won another game that year and sometimes Stick would just randomly disappear for a couple of days only to emerge looking ragged and tired. How he still hadn't managed to learn his lesson she couldn't begin to fathom, if he just stopped trying to get on Puck's good side and ran in the opposite direction whenever he saw him Puck would probably move on.

This time he had stalked up to Stick while he was walking towards Blaine, slushy in hand, grabbed him and slammed him into the wall. He had kept him pinned there with his forearm and asked him if he had a death wish. The slushy had been dropped all over Stick's pants in the chaos and he was gasping out idiotic apologies to Puck who was ignoring him while he talked to Mike about the pros and cons of whipping the Earth of Stick's existence. Rachel had dashed forward from the crowd and towed a shocked Blaine away as fast as possible before Puck decided he was doing something aggravating.

That night Blaine had texted her and told her that Stick had apparently made it away with his life, after Mike had convinced Puck that it wasn't a good idea. Though not until he had been forced to make a humiliating promise to and Blaine quoted, "stop walking around like he knew shit," whatever that meant.

Wednesday went quickly, much to Rachel and Blaine's displeasure; though it had been an uneventful day and they hadn't heard of anyone getting slushied and Stick had apparently managed to mind his own business seeing as he had sat quietly at the jock table which Puck had presided over in a disinterested manner. The night before Rachel had received another e-mail from Mr. Schuester telling them that he had managed to secure them the choir room as a gathering location seeing as it was the only available space. He had said that they were lucky because Coach Sue had already reserved most of the other school grounds for her various activities.

"You ready for this, Rae?" Blaine asked pulling her from her reverie.

He leaned against the lockers beside her and looked over to exchange glances that read neither of them were anywhere near ready for this. They stood silently for several minutes watching the clock above the row of lockers opposite them.

"Are my feet moving yet?" she asked grimacing.

"Nope," he told her. "Are mine?"

She looked back over to him and laughed. They nodded at each other and shoved themselves away from the wall in order to begin making their way slowly to the choir room. When they arrived the room was already full, the only people not there were Mr. Schuester and _Puck_. Rachel sat down next to Artie in the front row and Blaine plopped down beside her. Kurt, Mercedes and Tina were in the row directly behind them. The Cheerios and Finn and Mike were on the other side of the room, two seats between them and the other students.

Mr. Schuester came bouncing in only a couple of seconds after Rachel and Blaine. He had a wide grin spread across his face, and Rachel was sure it wouldn't last for long.

"Where's Puck?" he asked. And the smile slipped from its place. Rachel couldn't fully stifle the vindicated feeling that came over her.

The gathered students exchanged glances with one another, everyone one shrugged except Mike, who really probably did know where Puck was—not that he was going to divulge that information, no matter how irrelevant it might be.

Santana laughed and just said, "I'm surprised you actually expected him to come."

"He has to come," Mr. Schuester replied, though he didn't look as confidant as he obviously wanted to. "Mike?"

The lanky Asian stared at him quietly for a beat before responding.

"He'll be here," he said. He didn't look too concerned either way.

Rachel sighed mentally. She felt like it was obvious that he was going to come. Mike was here, and so was Finn, and they wouldn't have come if Puck hadn't been planning on it. But Puck being _Puck_ was going to come when he pleased, regardless of the time a teacher had requested his presence. Who knew what Puck actually had to attend to in his free time?

"I guess we wait then?" Mr. Schuester said.

Rachel thought it was funny, how easily he was bending to Puck's will. He didn't even know he was doing it. She wished they'd been given a teacher that could deal with Puck; he was supposed to be their leader after all. And with that one sentence he had deferred to Puck as his superior without even noticing. She sighed and looked over to Blaine.

"This is just how I wanted to spend my afternoon," he said sarcastically.

Rachel and the four close enough to have heard him laughed, but any response they had been planning to give was cut short when the door on the far side of the room opened and Puck strolled in.

"Sorry, Schue," he smirked.

He walked lazily over to the chair that had been left empty beside Mike and clapped hands with him and with Finn. Mike leaned over and muttered something to him, to which Puck responded by shrugging his shoulders and chuckling in the gravely tone that made Rachel think he might be more affected by what his friend had said than he let on. Mr. Schuester stared at them, apparently waiting for their attention to return to him. He was sorely disappointed as Mike went on to say something else. Puck rolled his eyes and responded quietly. Finn leaned over to listen to what Puck was saying and when he finished talking the three of them all nodded.

"Mr. Schuester?" Rachel snapped, trying to remain as polite as possible. "Do you think we could begin the meeting now?"

"Uh, right, of course, Rachel," he agreed, stumbling slightly before glaring at Puck who had laughed quietly at him. "As you're all well aware the point of the Battle is to build relationships between students who don't get along or who wouldn't necessarily hangout otherwise."

Everyone nodded and Santana demanded that he get on with it. He shot her a glare, and Rachel thought he might want to rethink his teaching strategies, because if that's all he was ever going to do he wasn't going to make a single difference in the students he had been assigned.

"Anyways, we're here today to work on our first assignment, and at the end of one week I will report the progress to the judges," he went on.

Then he walked over to the adjoining office and came back out holding a smaller version of Figgins' bowl. Rachel wasn't alone in the groan that escaped her lips. The bowl was empty as he sat it down on top of the baby grand that sat unused at the front of the room.

"You lost your fish," Brittany informed him, sounding sad. "I'll ask Lord Tubbington when I get home if he's heard from them."

"Who is Lord Tubbington?" Kurt asked. He looked very concerned, if not slightly disgusted.

"Her cat," Quinn answered.

"All animals keep in contact," Brittany told them. "Like the mafia."

"Right," Kurt said slowly.

"Thank you, Brittany," Mr. Schuester said. He sounded just as confused as Kurt. Rachel thought it was almost cute how the Cheerios and football players had seemed completely nonplussed by Brittany. Puck nodded at her encouragingly when she looked back at him, having noticed the befuddled looks on the other half of the room's faces.

"So what are we doing with the bowl?" Mercedes asked, and then added, "While the fish are missing?"

She looked almost startled that she had added that. Rachel thought it was a good thing to say based on the way Santana smiled approvingly. And Rachel made a mental note; placate Brittany.

"Well, you six," Mr. Schuester explained. "Are going to write your names on these slips of paper and then the other six are going to draw one of your names. The partner you pick today will be your partner for a while, so get used to it. No complaining and no switching. None."

Rachel doubted it would be that easy, but respectfully wrote her name on her slip of paper and dropped it into the bowl without saying anything. She gave the Spanish teacher a few points though, because for the first time today he seemed to be self-assured in what he was saying.

Once the bowl was filled with their names he took it over to the other side of the room and handed it to Quinn for her to pass around.

"Read the name you pick out loud as soon as you draw," Mr. Schuester instructed.

"Mercedes," Quinn said.

Neither girl made a fuss as she passed the bowl to Santana.

"Blaine," she said, not seeming to be too offended. Or maybe she just didn't care.

Blaine, on the other hand, shared a look with Rachel that read that he wasn't too pleased with the match up.

"Artie," Brittany called out. "Who's Artie?"

Artie wheeled forward and waved over at her.

"Oh, I thought you were the robot mascot," she told him.

Rachel gaped but Artie just smiled, not being too insulted.

"No, Britt," Santana explained. "His legs don't work."

"But why?" she asked, appearing truly distraught about it.

"He was fighting to save the world from werewolves," Puck told her leaning forward. "Cats everywhere hail him as their savior."

"Wow, that so cool!" Brittany exclaimed happily pacified and sufficiently sheltered from the realties that were drunk drivers and unfortunate, innocent children. Artie seemed just as happy with the explanation so no one said anything to contradict Puck. She passed the bowl up to Finn.

"Kurt," he said awkwardly. Mike snatched the bowl from him as Puck shot Finn a glance.

"Tina," he called over, holding his fist up. "Asian Power!"

Tina blushed and smiled before raising her fist in response.

"Looks like it's me and you Berry," Puck smirked, swiping her name from the bowl.

Rachel couldn't even find it in herself to be surprised. She just looked over her shoulder at his cocky grin. Then she shrugged and laid her head onto Blaine's shoulder, gazing up at Mr. Schuester. _Puck_ chortled and she turned her head on Blaine's shoulder so she could see him again, she scrunched her nose at him. She thought maybe the universe was trying to kill her, and if not Puck certainly was. He just continued to smirk and laugh silently.

"That went much better than expected," Mr. Schuester stated giddily, calling Rachel's attention back to him. "So, what we're going to do today is get to know one another. I feel like one of the reason's you might not like each other is simply because none of you have ever taken the time to think about what it might be like to live in the other's shoes. So get with your partner, find an area for yourselves, and ask one another questions until I call time."

Rachel watched as everyone went about doing what they were told, all finding as secluded of an area as possible. She turned to look up at Puck who had moved to the top row of the mini bleachers and planted himself down on the step, he was sprawled out and leaning against the wall. He motioned for Rachel to join him, so she stood and weaved through the now abandoned chairs in the first two rows and sat down beside him. She left a little over a foot between them and crossed her legs primly before making eye contact with him.

What ensued was a silent struggle of wills, or more rightly put, a silent struggle of Rachel's will, because Puck was merely looking at her expectantly and waiting for her to begin. She remained quiet for a couple of minutes, surveying their teammates. Blaine looked like he couldn't understand what Santana was saying, but was nodding along with her anyways. Finn and Kurt were on opposite sides of the piano both looking anywhere but at the other. Quinn was red in the face and Mercedes seemed on the verge of screaming. The only partners that seemed to be doing well were Tina and Mike who were sitting closest to Rachel and Puck, talking animatedly with small smiles, and Artie and Brittany, and if Rachel had to guess at what they were doing she would say that they were attempting to perfect some sort of secret code language using just hand signals.

Rachel huffed and angled herself slightly towards Puck before looking back over at him. He was lounged out comfortably, watching her. She narrowed her eyes at him and began.

"What's your favorite color?" she asked, it being the only thing she could think of.

"That's the best you got?" he asked, his famous smirk taking over the lazy look on his face.

"I am highly interested in what your favorite color is," Rachel ground out.

"I don't know," he responded. "Black?"

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked, admittedly amused by the fact that he didn't seem to know what is favorite color was.

"I don't fuckin' care," was his response. "Are you just going to ask me stupid shit?"

"Yes," Rachel responded. She was feeling bold knowing the room was filled with people and a teacher who at the very least would try to come to her defense. "If you had to choose would you rather transform into a rhino and live out the rest of your days as Mike's pet or live alone in space as a human, just out there floating around occasionally being attacked by various hostile creatures?"

He laughed at her, really laughed; looking at her like she was the strangest thing he had ever encountered. Rachel kept a straight face, waiting for him to calm down, and then demanded an answer.

"I guess I'd rather be Mike's pet rhino," he told her, rolling his eyes.

Rachel nodded in understanding, as though this actually told her something about him.

"It's your turn," she informed him.

"What's your favorite color?" he asked.

"That's not fair," she pointed at him. "You made fun of me for asking that! And you can't copy."

"It is too fair," he smirked. "Schue never said we couldn't ask the same questions."

"My favorite color is gold, and I would rather float alone in space!" she snapped. "And you have to go again because I said so and Mr. Schuester never said you didn't have to do what I say."

"Don't get too big for your knickers, Sugar," Puck responded quickly, not in the least effected by her short tirade. "I wasn't going to ask you that dumb fuckin' rhino question anyways."

Rachel stared at him blankly. Her arms were crossed firmly over her chest and her foot was bouncing erratically. From the look on his face she concluded that he just found the situation amusing.

"When did you and Blaine become so close?" he asked her, nodding at the boy in question. He was gesturing wildly at Santana and pointing at Rachel occasionally. She smiled.

"Well, after we got the numbers sent out he texted me asking about my dance classes, then we talked and went to Tuesday session together," Rachel explained. She studied him quizzically wondering if he knew that that was an actual question and that it hadn't been offensive and that it was a subject that actually made Rachel happy.

Puck was silent watching the bowtie clad boy talk with Santana. She appeared to be on some verbal tirade about him, pointing to various parts of his body.

"He's my first friend since junior high," Rachel said quietly, watching as Blaine swatted Santana's hand away from his hair. "Please don't take that from me."

Puck glared over at her, "I don't keep you from having friends, Berry."

"Maybe you don't mean to," Rachel said. "But I know Quinn does, and with how much you hate me everyone steers clear of me in fear of getting second hand slushies."

He didn't look like he was going to respond, so Rachel pushed forward with another question.

"Why were you late?"

"I had a meeting to attend to," he told her evasively.

"You have to be honest," she goaded. She could see the muscles in his jaw clench as he swiped a hand over his head in aggravation.

"I locked JBI in a janitor's closet," Puck snarled. "Which is none of your damn business."

"JBI?" Rachel questioned. "Is that a person?"

"No. JBI doesn't count as a person, the little creep," he retorted.

"JBI? Jacob Ben-Israel?"

Puck just nodded, looking over at Quinn and Mercedes who had been joined by Mr. Schuester. He seemed to be trying to mediate their conversation. He also seemed to be failing.

"You locked him in a closet?" Rachel was still gaping.

"Yes, I told you already."

"But, why?" Rachel demanded.

"And then I told you it was none of your damn business," Puck snapped at her.

"You can't just go around locking people in closets," Rachel lectured.

"Yes, I can," Puck interrupted before she could continue.

"You can," Rachel agreed and he smirked again. "But that doesn't mean you should."

"Look, Mother Teresa, the sneaky perv had it coming," Puck groaned. "And I let him out eventually."

"I highly doubt he had it coming," Rachel retorted. "Let's just get back to this senseless game."

"How long do you think Finn will last until he demands a new partner?" Puck asked with a laugh.

Rachel turned her head to the front of the room to see the football player stumbling over his words and shaking his head back and forth quickly. Kurt looked to be on the verge of tears.

"That isn't funny," she stated heatedly. "Kurt is treated like he's going to force himself on all the guys around here, when that just isn't true. You're all a bunch of homophobes and Kurt would never be interested in that anyways!"

"Slow your roll, Princess," Puck held up his hands. "I was making fun of Finn, not Kurt."

"Then why do you toss him in dumpsters?" Rachel demanded.

"Get your facts straight. Just because I happen to be around while Karofsky and his band of goons chuck people in trash does not mean that it's my fault," he told her.

"Yes, it does!" Rachel insisted. "You could make him stop. You're the only one in this school that could make him stop."

"You're bat shit crazy," Puck said. "I'm not getting involved in that fuckin' bullshit. Whenever I'm there I make him let Kurt take of his expensive stuff."

"You should win an award for your good deeds," Rachel told him with sarcasm dripping from her tongue.

"Watch how you talk to me, little girl," Puck growled.

Rachel flinched back from him, but her eyes were caught by his. They were a deep green, and very, very angry, and she knew if he had had a slushy it would have been dripping down her shirt by now. She should have known not to push him, she scolded herself. Just because she had been given the temporary opportunity to speak her mind didn't mean that she should provoke him.

"I'm sorry," she spoke quietly, being as sincere as she was able. His demeanor lighted slightly and they watched together as Kurt fled the room, Mr. Schuester hot on his heels.

"What are you going to do after you graduate?" she asked, not knowing what else to do.

"Football," he answered shortly, and she was convinced she'd done it—she'd gone and got him too angry and she'd be receiving the backlash of that tomorrow. But then he asked, "You?"

And even though she felt that it didn't really count she took it anyways, because his shoulders had relaxed and he was watching Artie and Brittany do whatever they were doing, looking like he found them very entertaining.

"I'm going to be on Broadway," she gushed happily.

He raised an eyebrow questioningly at her, so she just continued to talk.

"I've been taking voice and dance lessons since I was two," she told him, he seemed to be paying her some attention. "I was going to join the glee club this year, because my fathers were making me, but also because it would look wonderful on my application if it had somehow managed to win a National championship. But that creepy Sandy is a known pedophile and he isn't even a talented pedophile; not that he isn't talented in being a pedophile, I don't know. But he isn't a talented instructor and I know he is a pervert even if he isn't a genuine pedophile. So I got him fired, and it looks like because of this nonsensical Battle they aren't going to be replacing him at all, so I don't know what I'm going to do now about it. Hopefully the things I do outside of school will be enough to bolster my applications and resumes."

When she focused back on Puck at the end of her diatribe he was watching her like she had just informed him that she was going into nuclear physics and had launched into all of the intricacies of the chemical makeup of the world. His eyes were wide as he stared at her, and she felt heat rush to her cheeks.

"You got Pervy Sandy fired?" he asked stunned.

"I simply opened Principal Figgins' eyes to the after school activities he may be participating in and called on my ability to cry on command," Rachel explained quickly, feeling somewhat guilty. "It wasn't a lie. I just exaggerated the truth!"

He just gazed at her as though he'd never seen a female before, which she knew just wasn't the case. She went back to looking over their team, trying to keep from blushing. Finn was standing alone with a glazed expression, like he couldn't remember how he'd ended up there. Rachel was beginning to question his intelligence.

"Why are you even here?" she asked suddenly, flipping her hair and looking back to Puck. He was surveying Finn, as Rachel had been, shaking his head slightly as Finn walked over to the door to peer into the hallway.

"The hell kind of question is that?" he responded.

"There must be a reason you are giving into this foolishness," Rachel huffed. "We both know you wouldn't be here unless you wanted to be."

Puck just glanced at her and went back to watching Santana again. Rachel is quite lucky her self-restraint holds out because she wants nothing more than to snap her fingers in front of his face to gain his undivided attention, but she knows that would probably be considered provoking—and no one ever really has Puck's full attention.

"Just because I might have a reason for being here doesn't mean it's open to discussion," he told her, eyes still on Santana.

"You don't think this nonsense is pointless?" she asked.

"Of course it's pointless," Puck told her, his eyes narrowing as Santana's voice rose slightly.

She leaned forward and dropped her head into her hand. She didn't take her eyes off him, and contented herself to watching him watch Santana and Blaine. Her mind was running a mile a minute, trying to decipher a reason for why he was going along with the Battle so willingly.

He was resting is forearms on his knees, one of his hands fidgeting while the other was held in a tight fist. She couldn't fathom what was going on inside his head; he didn't look upset, and his usual uninterested attitude wasn't present either. He glanced over at her before looking away again, his fist unclenching.

"I want to be here because I'm interested in the outcome," he said. Rachel was surprised that he had said anything, so remained quiet in hopes that he'd go on. She wasn't disappointed. "Whoever came up with this idea was on crack when they thought of it, and there's no way it'll change the way this school has been for years. But that doesn't mean it won't be worth going along with."

"That was incredibly cryptic," Rachel murmured.

He didn't respond. His attention shifted to Finn as he walked over to Puck sheepishly. Puck shifted back to his original position, and regarded Finn as the younger boy came to a halt in front of him.

Finn shuffled his feet looking awkwardly at Rachel. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and groaned.

"I think I offended Kurt," he finally stated.

Puck raised his eyebrows at him, but remained silent. His eyes flicked from Finn to Santana for a second before he gave his consideration back to his friend.

"What did you do?" Rachel questioned.

Finn looked at her for just an instant before turning back to Puck.

"You fucked up," Puck indicated.

"Look, Puck, I don't know how to talk to him," Finn explained. "I didn't mean to. Do you think I'm going to get in trouble with Mr. Schue?"

Rachel glared up at him, tapping her foot against the floor. Puck turned his head to Rachel, regarded her for a moment, and shrugged his shoulder.

"This is bullshit," Finn exclaimed. "I have better things to do. Why the hell are we here?"

"What did you do?" Puck ignored his question.

"I just told him I wasn't gay when he asked about Quinn and me," Finn snapped.

Rachel stomped her foot and stood quickly, saying harshly, "Kurt isn't interested in you, you narrow minded Neanderthal. He just likes to gossip and talk about relationships. If you would pay any mind at all to his personality that would really be quite obvious!"

"I wasn't even talking to you!" Finn retorted.

"Go sit down, Finn," Puck interrupted, rising from his place as well. "You're not going to get in trouble."

"He should!" Rachel bit out. She glowered up at Puck, pointing at Finn's retreating back. Then she felt very silly for demanding Puck correct his friend, realizing she was doing what everyone else did and assuming Puck had more authority than was rightfully his.

"Calm down, Killer," Puck smirked at her. "Day's almost over and we'll have bigger problems."

"Excuse me?" Rachel demanded, slightly dazed by being called killer. She just looked up at him wondering if that had been some sort of strange compliment.

He didn't respond, and she really wasn't surprised. A few moments later he nodded at the door where Mr. Schuester was escorting a calm Kurt back inside. He clapped Finn on the shoulder as he passed and Kurt began talking to Finn with renewed vigor. Finn looked astounded.

Rachel watched Mr. Schuester stand a few feet away from the boys and smile proudly. She personally felt his victory would be short lived, but was glad Kurt seemed okay. Then she was being shoved around to the other side of Puck as Santana started screaming in Spanish.

She nearly fell over, her balance being thrown off by the unexpected swiftness of Puck's action. She watched as Blaine held his hands up to his sides, trying to talk over the angry girl who was standing right up against him. Puck started over to the pair at the same time as the teacher. Mr. Schuester reached them first, since he hand been standing closer, and tried to remove Santana from Blaine's personal space. She shoved at the teenage boy, rude insults slipping from her mouth as she then turned to the teacher and started in on him.

Rachel stood shocked for a moment before rushing across the room to try to comfort a now very distraught Blaine. Puck was trying in vain to get Santana to listen to him.

"This is all fucking bullshit!" Santana yelled. "So what if I don't want this fag loser for a friend? Who gives a fuck? Are you serious Puck? Really?"

Rachel gaped at her in horror, now having a better understanding of how her friend's conversation with the cheerleader had been going. Puck was trying to lead her away from the confrontation, but she kept being deterred by Mr. Schuester trying to give her a lecture.

Santana just kept ranting, and the words she had said were ringing in Rachel's ears. She could see Kurt from behind Mr. Schuester, who was going unheard, tears brimming again in his eyes as Santana's insults just continued to spew over the teacher and Puck. She could feel Blaine trembling slightly, his breathing stuttering. And it just crushed Rachel because she knew that Blaine was fairly confident in his sexuality, less easy to wound over it than Kurt, and this was her friend and she honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd had a friend.

"Shut up, Santana! You can't just say such tactless things! No one cares, Santana, so just stop! There's no need to be such a bitch, there's no one here to be impressed by you," Rachel yelled.

Rachel stood in front of Blaine, angry tears welling in her eyes as well. She couldn't help but be embarrassed over her inability to control them, but that lasted less than a heartbeat before she was being shoved into her friend and she was trying desperately to get out of the way of the slap Santana was aiming at her face.

She clenched her eyes shut, preparing for the sharp pain, but the Latina's hand never made contact. Rachel opened her eyes to see Puck grab Santana's upper arm and yank her into his chest. In the same instant he was hauling her roughly across the room, growling at her in a hushed tone. She gapped up at him, utterly silent, as he shoved her into Quinn's arms.

"Fuck of, Santana," was the only thing Rachel heard in the deathly quiet of the room. "Go home and cool off. And watch your fuckin' mouth from now on."

Everyone stood watching them silently as she narrowed her eyes at him and tightened her ponytail. She held her ground for a moment until Puck stepped closer to her, and she marched towards the door. Quinn followed silently in her wake, looking back at Puck over her shoulder. He just watched them go.

Right before they disappeared out the door Mr. Schuester finally found his voice and called out, "Wait! Come back in here."

Neither girl slowed down as they looked back and then they were gone. The Spanish teacher looked angrily around the room, shaking his head.

"Puck that wasn't your place," he said once he found words. "You can't undermine my authority like that."

"What authority?" Puck rumbled.

Rachel was fairly sure she was still in shock. Santana Lopez had almost just physically harmed her. In all the times she had been picked on it had never even come close to that. Rude comments happened daily, lewd drawings on her locker or in bathrooms were a common occurrence and while she knew Kurt and Artie were both often targeted with violence the closest she had ever come was a slushy in the face, and she didn't really even count that, because while it was degrading it wasn't painful unless she didn't close her eyes fast enough.

Puck was standing toe to toe with their advisor who appeared as though he thought he could actually wrest respect from him that way. Rachel couldn't help but think that if he had been the one to stop Santana he would have had a better chance of Puck ever looking at him as more than a glorified babysitter that was really, and even Rachel had to admit this, superfluous. It was the first time Rachel thought that maybe Puck had earned his status, and hoped that he put Mr. Schue in his place.

She watched in surprise as Puck laughed and shrugged, backing away from the face off. Rachel was thoroughly baffled as to why Puck would hand the reins back over when Mr. Schuester had very nearly crashed them already; but then she remembered him saying something about this Battle being worth going along with. She looked over at him curiously as he leaned on Mike and let Mr. Schuester handle the rest of the students; she couldn't understand why he was doing this, but she was sure he had some sort of reason.

"Well, this didn't go exactly like I hoped," Mr. Schuester said to the team. "But I think it could have gone worse. I'll see you all next Wednesday for our next assignment, but before you go I'm giving you all work for the week."

"Like homework?" Mercedes asked.

"Sort of," Mr. Schuester agreed. "What I want you to do is look out for each other while you're at school for the rest of the week. That means if anyone sees or hears about something happening to someone else or hears people talking about them you have to stand up to that person. We're a team and I want you to act like one."

"What sport do we play?" Brittany asked from where she was sitting on the arm of Artie's chair.

No one answered her as Artie patter her on the back and shook his head. Rachel just wanted to go home, so she nodded along with the rest of her peers and was glad when they were finally dismissed.

Once she got out to the parking lot she remembered that she hadn't told her dads what time they should pick her up, and since they refused to get her a car she was going to have to call them to come get her. She sat down on the steps in front of the school and tugged her cell phone from her school bag.

"What are you doing?" Puck asked her from the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh, I'm calling my parents to come and get me," she explained.

"It's going to rain," he said, glancing up at the sky.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell them when to get me," Rachel said.

He just stared up at her as she fiddled with her phone. She noticed him take a step up as a hand fell onto her shoulder. She looked up to see Tina smiling down at her.

"Do you need a ride?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

Rachel smiled up at her gratefully and nodded. Her stomach flipped in excitement as she stood up and began to talk to the shy girl in soft tones. She took in the way Puck stepped back down to the ground and observed her as she followed Tina to her small car. She pushed it out of her mind though as Tina asked Rachel if she could join her and Blaine at lunch the next day, explaining that she normally hid in the art room.

She couldn't hide her eagerness over gaining Tina's friendship and was only encouraged when the girl returned it equally. As they left the parking lot they were already talking about potential sleepovers and whether or not Blaine would be able to come. Rachel assured her if it was at her house it wouldn't be a problem and Tina literally clapped enthusiastically.

Rachel went to bed that night thinking about nothing but her new friend and the sleepover she would invite her and Blaine to for the weekend that her dads had agreed to quite easily. Her last thought before drifting off was that maybe Puck was right about the Battle, and at least she knew he wasn't being forced to participate against his will. She relaxed, genuinely happy to be going to school for the first time in years.

* * *

**AN: Alright, so I've decided that I'm going to try an upload around midweek every week, so you all know. I was astounded with the amount of positive response I got to this, seriously. Thank you all, I'm going to start trying to respond to reviews from here on out. =) Okay, so this is still kind of setting up for the plot and getting Rachel established and whatnot. From here on out it's going to start getting good, in my opinion. =p However, since there was really a lot more interest than I imagined I'm going to ask people to leave some of their ships in their reviews, as well as their favorite character/characters that they'd most enjoy seeing. Also, I don't want anyone to worry about Finn or Santana, or anyone really, I've given them their story lines in this chapter to explore their character development. Most importantly sorry for the f word, I didn't enjoy it which is why Santana's rant wasn't in dialogue form and just described; I'm a wimp it made my heart hurt. =(**

**Lastly, and most, most importantly I wanted to take a moment to recognize the 26 lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary. Whatever your believes please remember to keep their community near your heart as they continue to lay their loved ones to rest and send positive vibes. **


	3. Puck Does Strange Things

**Disclaimers are not my thing. I obviously don't own Glee. **

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The rest of the week was exhausting for Rachel, and for Blaine and Tina. Santana was on the warpath, which didn't surprise any of them in the least. Rachel had been expecting it, and prepared for it by making sure to bring what the three of them had dubbed the Slushy Survival Kit to school every day. It was really just some extra clothes and makeup and skincare products, but something about giving it a name only the three of them knew made taking the slushy facials much easier.

Santana herself never actually threw a slushy, nor did Quinn, and this they did find surprising. The slushies were coming from either the Cheerios or the hockey team, so Rachel suspected that Santana and Quinn were masterminding the whole thing. She wondered why they were bothering to go about it that way; originally she had figured it was because of Mr. Schue's homework for the week, but Tina had pointed out that they weren't ever stopping anything from happening. They just weren't executing themselves.

Most everyone blatantly ignored Mr. Schuester's instructions, even Rachel who took to only standing up to people when it was Blaine or Tina, which she was doing because they were actually her friends and not because Mr. Schuester told her to. The only person who seemed to be taking him seriously was Brittany, who had almost been brought to tears when she was arguing with a fellow Cheerio after she had seen her throw a slushy on Artie. She had tried to explain to the girl that Artie was a war hero and deserved respect when everyone around had started to laugh. Brittany had just gotten more and more upset until Puck had walked by and asked ominously what the fuck was going on.

Brittany had explained quickly, while everyone gathered watched in stunned silence as Puck told the girl that they were all dumbasses and didn't know what they were talking about. He had then told Artie to go clean up and told their audience to find something better to do.

Rachel and Tina, who had watched the whole event, followed Artie silently and handed him wipes and scrubs from their Slushy Survival Kits. Puck had watched them until Mike walked by; drawing his attention by asking what had happened. Then the pair had strolled away without a second glance.

It was currently Sunday afternoon and Rachel was lounging on her bed next to Tina. She and Blaine had stayed the night at Rachel's house the night before watching movies and discovering a mutual love of signing, which had turned into a full blown Destiny's Child karaoke night. It was the first time in three years that Rachel had friends over to her house, and she had forgotten what it felt like to tell someone your secrets, to have someone else trust you with theirs and to laugh so hard you cried a little.

Blaine had already left, his family liking to spend time together on Sundays, but Tina had asked if she could stay a while longer and Rachel had told her she could move in for all she cared. Tina, Rachel had found out, was really quite loud and funny once you got her going. She talked fast and about anything, which was one of many things they had discovered they had in common.

"You know," Tina said randomly. "I pretend to have a stutter at school."

Rachel quirked a brow at her and giggled, "You are like the least likely person I know to have a stutter."

Tina laughed and nodded, playing with one of the blue stands of her hair.

"When I was younger I hated talking in front of class, so I just decided to stutter so I didn't have to. And when I realized people left me alone and didn't talk to me because of it I kept it up," she explained. Her eyes were downcast and Rachel thought she looked regretful.

"Why didn't you want people to talk to you?" Rachel asked gently.

"I am incredibly shy," Tina told her. "But I more so have a hard time trusting people. It felt easier to keep everyone that I could potentially like at a distance than risk getting hurt by them."

Rachel contemplated her new friend for several moments. She wondered what it was like not trusting anyone. Rachel trusted people immediately, even when she knew she shouldn't. She trusted Tina explicitly from the second the girl had smiled down on her and offered her a ride.

"I have no idea how that must feel," Rachel admitted. "Didn't you get lonely?"

"Not as much as you'd think," Tina explained. "But I think it's probably because the fear was so ingrained that I thought it was better to be lonely."

"So, why did you talk to me?" Rachel questioned.

"Because I've noticed you, you know?" Tina smiled. "Being quiet and ignored has its bright sides; I can observe people from a distance and it's really obvious what they're like after a while. Especially people like you; you've never pretended to be anything you're not. And I looked up to you for that. But at Battle Assembly the other day I watched you finally react to the bullying. Even though Puck had to step in, you weren't going to let her continue to talk to Blaine like that. It's like now that you've got friends you're different, like you made the decision to toughen up and not take it anymore, or at least not let it happen to people you care about. And I saw how Blaine tried to get you out of the way before Santana could hit you, even though you guys were a fumbling mess, you had each other. I guess I just kind of thought if you guys are going to watch out for one another like that after only knowing each other for three days you were probably worth trusting. And I don't want to be alone anymore."

Rachel smiled brightly and rubbed at her eyes, which may or may not have been watering. She pulled Tina into a hug telling her she'd never have to be alone again and listened intently as Tina continued to tell her about her trust issues and how they'd come to be. It was a lot deeper seated than Rachel could have possibly guessed at and she just did her best to listen and support the best friend she'd ever had.

Sometime later, after they'd eaten an entire box of Fruit Loops and spent an hour discussing everything from Honey Boo Boo to Broadway, Tina finally got around to bringing up the Battle.

"You know, when Figgy called your name for the Battle I had this stupid thought," she whispered.

"Yeah?" Rachel prompted.

"I just thought, please let Puck get called," Tina admitted quietly.

"What?" Rachel sputters, almost choking on her soda. "Why would you wish the apocalypse on the school?"

Tina laughed and shook her head, "You know I get why you think that. But I just felt we were really going to need him."

"No one _needs_ Puck," Rachel said, flabbergasted.

"I don't know," Tina said. "I know he can be downright terrifying, but we do need him."

"For what?" Rachel demanded.

"Puck is the leader," Tina began.

"Mr. Schuester is our leader," Rachel interrupted.

"Of our Battle team, I guess," she went on. "But Puck? Puck is _the _leader. The whole school follows him. And let's face it, we don't want him to be because he leaves us at the bottom of the food chain, but he plays with Mr. Schue like a cat plays with a mouse. It's obvious to everyone but Mr. Schue, who is deluded, that he's in charge for only as long as Puck lets him be."

Rachel didn't say anything. She agreed with Tina; she was practically saying what Rachel had thought on Wednesday. But that didn't make it any less intimidating, Rachel felt like her life had less of a chance of being flipped on its head if she pretended Mr. Schuester was in control. Puck was a wildcard—he'd never let on to why he'd decided to go along with the Battle now that it was obvious he didn't think he was being forced.

"That still doesn't explain why you wanted him on our team," Rachel prodded.

"I just have this feeling. He's not going to let anything happen to us," Tina stated. Rachel had no clue how she could sound so positive about such a thing.

"Puck let's things happen to us all the time," Rachel argued. "He throws slushies at our faces."

"When was the last time he threw a slushy?" Tina asked.

"I don't know," she replied, exasperated.

"He hasn't this year," Tina stated. "Not one."

"So? When has he ever put a stop to one?" Rachel probed.

"Last Tuesday," Tina said as though it was obvious.

Rachel just looked at her like she'd lost her mind.

"He kept Blaine from getting slushied," Tina said slowly, like Rachel might not be catching on. "You were there."

"He did that because he hates Stick," Rachel reputed.

"I don't think so," Tina said.

"You don't think he hates Stick?" Rachel wondered. She was confused because if there was one person Puck actually hated it was Stick.

"Oh, no, he detests Rick," Tina agreed. "But why?"

"Because even he knows Stick is scum?" Rachel said. She hadn't meant for it to come out sounding like a question.

"Why do you refuse to call him anything but Stick?" Tina questioned, laughing.

"Because he's awful," Rachel grumbled. "He trapped me in a portable toilet for an entire day last year! For no Reason! It took days to get rid of the smell. I missed the rest of the week because of that."

"Who got you out?" Tina asked. She was at Rachel's closet, trying on some of her sweaters.

"I can't remember," Rachel disclosed. "I was on the verge of passing out. I just remember finally waking up in the nurse's office."

Tina was digging through the very back of Rachel's closet, throwing things out onto the floor and making incredulous noises. Rachel watched the growing mess on her floor, wondering what Tina was doing.

"Rae, you have some awesome clothes in here!" she finally exclaimed, resurfacing from the depths of the closet. "Why do you just wear skirts and sweaters and polos?"

"Because they're what's school appropriate?" Rachel responded, picking a pair of her jeans off the floor and refolding them.

"You should wear this!" Tina exclaimed holding up a shimmery blouse with a gold sequined color. "With jeans!"

Rachel just shook her head and started gathering her clothes back up.

"Maybe outside of school," Rachel conceded. "I don't want to draw attention to myself."

"It's all designer!" Tina exclaimed. "You have to wear it. The Cheerios would drool over this stuff. How do you get it?"

"Daddy loves fashion," Rachel shrugged. "So he's always bringing me home clothes from the shopping he does when he travels."

"That's so cool," Tina said, amazed.

"You can borrow whatever you want," Rachel said. "I think we're fairly close to the same size."

Tina smiled and thanked her, stuffing some clothes in her bag. It was getting late at that point, so Tina started gathering her things to leave.

"Do you want a ride to school in the morning?" Tina offered. "I live close by, it's not a problem."

Rachel beamed, "If you're sure it won't be an inconvenience."

"No way, Rae," Tina assured. "You're pretty much my best friend."

She'd said it as though it solved all the problems in the world. Rachel smiled softly and nodded telling her she was hers too; because it really did kind of solve all the problems in her world.

Rachel helped her carry her things out to her car, laughing over the fact that she was undeniably leaving with more things than she'd brought. It made Rachel's stomach flutter because she guessed that's just what came with the territory of having a female best friend. And even Blaine had left with several of her CDs to put into his iTunes, assuring Rachel he'd bring her some of his own to fill in the unacceptable gaps in her musical interests.

Just as she was about to back out of Rachel's driveway Tina rolled down her window and beckoned Rachel back over to her.

"I meant to say this before, but I got distracted by the clothes," Tina giggled softly. "Puck was the one who found you and took you to the nurse last year. I was hiding in the office to avoid an end of the day slushy and saw him carry you in and tell the nurse what happened."

Rachel gaped openly at her, trying desperately to pick through her memories of that day. She had trouble believing that she wouldn't have been able to remember _Puck_ rescuing her and carrying her around. She couldn't reconcile the notion with her ideal of him.

In the end she settled for, "Huh?" as a response.

"He said he'd noticed you missing after first period," Tina went on. "That was what? Like the middle of last year?"

"Little bit before, yeah," Rachel clarified. "That doesn't make sense."

"Puck does strange things," Tina granted. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Rachel responded.

Normally she would have thanked Tina profusely for the ride, but she walked back into her house confusedly. She spent the rest of her night in a daze and finishing up her homework. It wasn't until midnight that she even remembered that she hadn't done any vocal practice all weekend.

Monday and Tuesday proceeded much like Thursday and Friday had for Rachel, though the slushy war seemed to be slowing down slightly. Santana and Quinn walked the halls in their Cheerio uniforms and paid no attention to any of their teammates other than Finn, Mike and Puck. So really, everything seemed to go back to normal. That was if you didn't count the weird looks Rachel thought she was getting, but those she brushed off thinking it was doubtless the side effects of a rumor that had been started about her. She found it odd, though, that the football team appeared to be outwardly attempting to stay as far away from her as possible.

When Wednesday finally rolled around Rachel found herself in the same position she had the week before, with only one noticeable difference; Tina flopped against the wall beside Rachel and Blaine, waiting with dread for the time to come when they would need to head to the choir room.

"What do you think we're going to be forced to do today?" Rachel wondered aloud.

"In my mind it looks something like the battle for Middle Earth," Tina groaned.

"You've been to see _Lord of the Rings_ one too many times," Blaine stated. "It'll be worse than that. WWIII is more likely."

"You two are being dramatic," Rachel said. "Plus the battle for Middle Earth would be immeasurably worse than World War anything."

The three glanced up at the clock and began the short walk to the choir room. They walked as slowly as possible, and Rachel wondered how late Puck would be today.

"You remember the time they put _Legally Blonde_ on Broadway?" Rachel asked. Her friends nodded as they filed through the door. "It's going to be worse than that."

"Now who's being dramatic?" Blaine mocked.

Rachel was surprised to find the room already full, Puck reclining in a chair in the second row, his foot on the back of Brittany's, holding him in place. Mike and Finn were chatting loudly about football, occasionally calling on Puck who merely nodded a lackluster response, absolutely uninterested. Quinn and Santana sat in the row in front of them, as they had the week before, both were motionless with their arms crossed over their chests. Brittany was smiling and talking happily with Artie who had maneuvered himself into the space to the right of her chair.

On the other side of the room Mercedes and Kurt were flipping through the most recent issue of _Vogue_ in the front row, a seat between them and Artie. Blaine looked over the room quickly and led Rachel and Tina into the second row; he sat behind Kurt, leaning forward to give the boy a quiet hello. Tina took the seat to his left and propped her feet up on the vacant chair beside Artie. That left Rachel next to Tina with only one space between herself and Puck.

"Where is Mr. Schuester?" Rachel wondered as she peered around the room.

"He isn't hiding under the piano, Hobbit. Who needs him anyways?" Santana cracked not bothering to turn around to give Rachel any more of her attention.

"Santana," Puck rumbled quietly. He was still staring ahead disinterestedly.

"I cannot believe this bullshit," Santana griped, whipping around to glare at Puck. "Are you serious? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Relax, Lopez," he murmured, and though it was said softly if was more full of warning than anything Rachel had heard him say to her thus far.

"Why don't you tell Bilbo to relax?" she snapped bad, flicking her hand at Rachel.

"Why don't you just stop instigating arguments with me before you go embarrassing yourself again by getting forcefully removed from my presence?" Rachel suggested smiling politely. Blaine and Tina snapped their fingers in unison at the end of her question.

Santana stood slowly from her chair and turned to face Rachel, her face billowing with rage. Rachel, though she wouldn't admit it out loud, began to fear slightly for her safety. She was fairly sure that someone would put a stop to Santana if she decided to try to hit her again, but she was also certain that if Santana lunged at her she'd at least make impact this time before she was halted.

"Listen up, King of the Goblins," Santana commanded as she addressed Rachel, Blaine and Tina, "and goblin minions. Just because you think you're suddenly safe because of this cracked Battle shit doesn't mean that you are. I don't give one single fuck about your precious feelings or your rightfully tiny self-esteems, so watch yourselves, because your guard dog doesn't scare me. He can't be around all the time."

Rachel scowled back at her, not quite sure what to say. She personally hadn't been able to retain the terrorized feeling she'd had after Santana had called her 'King of the Goblins'. She was quiet for several seconds, contemplating whether or not to dignify Santana's absurd threat with a response and weighing the pros and cons of putting up a fight. In the end she didn't seem to be able to hold her tongue.

"Santana, please do not pretend to presume that you actually know anything about me. I have a perfectly acceptable self-image and my self-esteem can withstand much more than slushy throwing and lewd drawings. I am especially unimpressed by the attempted insult that was 'King of the Goblins'. Honestly, Bilbo was more offensive because I like to consider myself exceedingly more cultured than you and that makes it amazingly remarkable that you know who Bilbo Baggins is, and while surly you are only aware because of the movie adaptations they were once highly successful novels. So why don't you just sit down?" Rachel stated slowly.

Her sentence was punctuated this time with chuckles from almost half the room. Puck smirked and kicked Santana's chair at her further ingraining Rachel's point while simultaneously adding his authority to it. The angry Cheerio kicked her chair back into its place and slammed herself forcefully into it. She was quiet for a beat before she turned around to look up at Puck who was still reclining lazily.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked; her voice submissive but controlled.

Puck let his foot fall from the back of Brittany's chair sending him crashing unceremoniously back to the ground. The only people who didn't flinch were Mike and Brittany. Everyone's eyes latched onto him, all wondering about the truthful answer to Santana's question. Rachel willed him to reply, reeling over his actions; the things Tina had brought up rushing to the forefront of her mind. She was beginning to feel like his motives were much larger than the simple interest he claimed having in how things would turn out. If that were the extent of it he wouldn't be handling situations and getting so entangled with the proceedings.

"What am I doing Santana?" Puck demanded.

"You're standing up for her," Quinn interjected when it appeared that Santana was't going to answer, her finger pointing at Rachel.

"And you want to know why?" Puck clarified.

If it had been Rachel she would have muttered a, 'No, sorry. I was talking to myself.' Puck's voice had dropped a register and his eyes were livid, moving back and forth between Quinn and Santana. He had leaned forward, closing the distance between all of them in a way that was more threatening than anything Santana had managed to spout during one of her verbal tirades. Unfortunately, they weren't able to maneuver out of the conversation because Puck seemed intent on having it. They just nodded their response.

"Because I damn well can," Puck hissed. "Because you whores bore me. Because I find it amusing that you're so threatened by a sophomore who has never shown any interest in anything you two deem yours. I think it's fuckin' hysterical how terrified you are of me telling you two to leave her and her friends the fuck alone, because you think I picked her over you and that if anyone else were to find out it would ruin the perfect little images you've been able to create around the fact that I favor you; you don't want people to know that I've never been able to stand either of you bitches and the only reason we hang out is because you're dating Finn and you used to date Mike. That's why; because I don't care about popularity. It's worthless and I'm fuckin' done with the bullshit."

"So you're picking her?" Quinn asked enraged.

"I'm not picking fuck," Puck snapped. "I'm just not picking you."

"It's the same thing!" Quinn screeched. "She's below you!"

Rachel felt that at this point she should chime in; insist that she was, as a matter of fact, not below Puck, but she was stunned into silence as Puck scoffed and shook his head once again leaning back in his seat.

"You threw slushies at her! You called her names," Santana found her voice. "And now you're saying you were fucking kidding? No!"

"I can do what I want," Puck laughed.

"But why?" Quinn demanded. "Why her?"

"Get your spanks out of your ass Fabray," Puck told her. "I don't give a fuck about her either."

"It sure doesn't look that way," Santana accused.

"I don't fuckin' like her and I don't fuckin' like you two," Puck continued with a roll of his eyes.

"Do you like me?" Brittany asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"Of course, Bri," Puck chuckled. She had managed to take some of the fire out of him with her earnest perusal of his approval.

"I like Rachel," the quirky Cheerio told him in a manner she obviously thought was helpful. "Her sweaters are my favorite part of the day. It's like a game. What animal will it be today? Artie and I bet on it. It's fun. Do you want to play? Oh, and remember the time we heard her sing at Castle over the summer? Her voice is like baby angle wings brushing against your face."

"What castle?" Rachel whispered.

She was thoroughly confused by Brittany's admissions, unsure if the fact that Brittany and Artie making a game out of her wardrobe was rude or strangely adorable. She looked over at Tina and Blaine for some sort of assistance, but they both looked just as muddled as she felt. She turned around to ask Puck where he and Brittany had heard her sing, but was interrupted by Mr. Schuester finally making his entrance.

"How are we all doing today?" he asked as he dropped a large duffle bag onto the floor.

"Are we going to burry a body?" Brittany asked.

"Um, no," he replied. "How has everyone's week gone?"

"This week I discovered that people throw slushies on other people, and sometimes on cats," Brittany lamented. "And I would like to place a formal request for this to end. Cats don't like slushies and Artie said it's not a nice thing to do to people either."

"Who slushied a cat?" Mercedes questioned.

"Coach Sue," Brittany responded.

"Well, Brittany, I'll see what I can do," Mr. Schuester told her, looking really quite unsure how to talk to her.

"Oh, Mr. Schue, I wasn't talking to you," Brittany explained to him as if he was too slow to understand her. "I was talking to Puck."

"I got you, Bri," Puck said tugging on her ponytail.

Their advisor glanced around the room, and Rachel thought it looked like he was seeking council from some superior being. She couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her as she shared a look with Tina and Blaine.

"What torture are you forcing on us today?" Kurt spoke up as he eyed the duffle bag wearily.

"I'm glad you asked, Kurt," he responded enthusiastically as he unzipped the bag and rifled around. Pulling a box out of the bag he held it up to display it proudly to the class.

"Please tell me there's a pizza in that box," Kurt groaned.

"I don't feel safe participating in this assignment, Mr. Schuester," Rachel exclaimed, shaking her head rapidly.

"Ya'll are going down!" Brittany cheered raising her fist in the air. "I've never lost a game of _Twister_ in my life."

"How are we going to fit twelve people on one _Twister_ mat?" Finn wondered.

In response to Finn's question Mr. Schuester pulled several more boxes out of his duffle bag. All of them displayed cheerily that they were "The game that ties you up in knots!"

"Epic _Twister_!" Mr. Schuester crowed. If Rachel were a more violent person she would snatch one of the boxes from his overly enthusiastic hands and brain him with it.

"Mr. Schuester," Rachel settled for quipping, "Tina and I are wearing skirts. It would be highly inappropriate for you to force us to participate in this game with the possibility of us being put in uncomfortable positions is quite a possible likelihood."

Her teacher's face fell for only a second before he managed to recover. Rachel shrank back from his triumphant grin knowing she'd lost her last objection.

"Puck, Mike, do you guys have any gym shorts your partners could borrow?" he asked the football players.

Rachel gaped at him like he'd lost his mind and was sincerely hoping that Puck would put his foot down and provide Mr. Schuester with whatever reason he pleased about why Rachel would not be wearing his clothing. She decided she wouldn't even be hurt if he made some gross joke about her. She turned to see his response, but was surprised to see the two of them shuffling through their bags in search of the requested items.

"This is… this is degrading," Rachel stuttered as Mike tossed Tina a pair of mesh gym shorts.

"All I've got that's clean is sweatpants," Puck stated, handing Rachel a pair of black McKinley sweats with "Puckerman" written down the side.

"Thanks?" she mumbled as she got up to follow Tina to the bathroom to change.

"I can't believe this," Tina groaned pulling her shorts on and tightening the string around her waist to keep them in place. "This is weird. I'm wearing Mike Chang's pants."

Rachel looked over at her best friend as she hiked Puck's sweats up. They were about three sizes too big for her, and several inches of fabric were left pooling around her feet on the floor.

"This is just ridiculous," Rachel complained, rolling the waist of the pants up as much as possible and then bending to do the same to each of the pant legs. "Puck is about a foot taller than me and a hundred more pounds of muscle. There's no way these are going to stay on."

"You look like you've died and come back as the gangster reincarnation of yourself," Tina laughed, clutching at her side.

"This is so undignified," Rachel whined, balling her fists in the fabric in an attempt to keep Puck's pants in place. "Let's just get this over with."

Tina followed Rachel back to the choir room laughing the whole way. As she entered the room she took in the _Twister _mats now covering most of the floor and the students standing all around the edges of them; Mr. Schuester was standing on top of the small risers at the back of the room with Artie who was holding onto the spinner and a whistle.

"Rachel! Tina! Good, you're back," Mr. Schuester called, bringing the attention of everyone in the room to them. "Join your teammates and I'll go over the rules."

She glanced around finding Puck standing on the far side of the room, a space open next to him for her. He watched her with a content expression as she crossed the mat covered floor and took up her place beside him, all the while holding on to the sweats that were drooping much too low for her pleasure. She craned her head to look up at him and scrunched her face at him as he chuckled at her to show her displeasure.

"Good look for you, Dollface," he murmured.

Rachel was quite tempted to tell him to take his sarcastic comment and fuck off with it, but reminded herself that she was a lady, so she settled for a snide, "Thanks so much for your approval."

And of course he wasn't fazed in the least, so he just hummed a laugh low in his throat. Rachel barely contained the urge to stomp her foot and storm out.

"Alright, listen," Mr. Schuester said and for once everyone turned to look to him for instructions. He almost seemed shocked, but managed to hide it well. "This isn't going to be just your average game of_ Twister. _The main objective is to be the first team to reach the center."

He pointed to the middle of the mats where Brittany was sitting holding the fish bowl. She looked quite put out about not being involved in the competition and Rachel honestly couldn't fathom why anyone would want to take part in what was sure to be the most deadly game of _Twister_ ever played.

"Why do we care?" Kurt asked. He was standing on the opposite side of the room from Rachel and Puck.

"Valid question," Blaine seconded.

"I agree," Mr. Schuester conceded nodding at the two boys, "Which is why inside the bowl are eleven prizes described on the slips of paper. They vary from movie tickets to Breadstix gift certificates to a two hundred dollar cash prize; things like that. Everyone gets a prize, but the first teams there are allowed to redraw a number of times based on how they place. For example, if you're first you can redraw as many as ten times, second can do nine, etcetera."

"What's the catch?" Mercedes asked.

"You must do it while answering questions about your partner," the Spanish teacher beamed.

"Excuse me?" Santana demanded. "What kind of questions?"

"Any kind that I or Brittany ask," he responded happily. "You must answer the question correctly in order to complete your next move, which will be called out by our unbiased referee Artie, who is also in charge of making sure there is no foul play. If you're caught doing something he deems unacceptable you'll hear the whistle blow, will be called out and then you'll have to explain your actions and move back to your last position."

"This is really complicated," Finn stated; his face faraway in thought.

"You gotta work for it," Mr. Schuester nodded. "Last week we lost miserably, this week we have to step it up to show that we're making progress."

"But we're not," Rachel scoffed, hands planted on her hips. Across the board Blaine nodded his agreement. Mr. Schuester didn't respond and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Mike and Tina will start us off since they did second best last week," Mr. Schuester pressed on.

"We were graded?" Mercedes questioned.

"Not in so many words," Mr. Schuester explained. "But I paid attention to how everyone did. Artie and Brittany seemed to do the best, bridging the gap smoothly. Mike and Tina, while not doing quite as well, managed to complete the task without any problems. Everyone else got in a fight of some sort."

No one said anything to that, not being able to disagree. They all stood silently waiting for their advisor to move on.

"Everyone ready?" he asked.

He was answered by a loud chorused, "No," that he seemed to take delight it.

"Take it away, Artie!" He chirped.

"Left foot, red," he called out. He seemed to be enjoying his post quite well.

"Question before you move," Mr. Schuester reminded. "Tina what is Mike's football number?"

Rachel watched as Tina cocked her head to the side, closing her eyes to think. She didn't understand why his sports number was relevant. Tina looked up at Mike, probably trying to call to mind him in his football jersey. She, like Rachel, had never found it necessary to attend a football game.

"Eight?" she said hopefully.

Mike grimaced and shook his head, "Eighty."

"I was close!" Tina exclaimed, looking to Mr. Schuester.

"You were off by 72," Brittany said with a shake of her head. "You shall not pass!"

Rachel giggled and Puck looked down at her confusedly. Tina smiled and shrugged, smiling apologetically up at Mike.

"You guys get it now?" the teacher asked them. He was answered with silent nods. "Finn and Kurt you're up next."

"Oh, Lord," Kurt droned.

"Right hand, green!" Artie spun for them.

"What grade is Kurt in, Finn?" Mr. Schuester asked.

Finn's eyes went wide, his mouth opening and closing as he desperately grasped for an answer.

"Sophomore?" he guessed.

Kurt nodded and they both moved forward at Mr. Schuester's nod to place their hands on an appropriate spot.

"I feel ridiculous," Kurt said, squatting down. He looked over at his partner who looked like he was doing some sort of weird lunge. "You look ridiculous."

Then he remembered the rule about foul play and glanced over at Artie to show he'd meant no harm. Artie shrugged to show he didn't care as Mr. Schuester pointed at Rachel and Puck. Rachel's heart skipped as she gazed down at the mat in front of her.

"Right foot, blue," Artie informed them.

"What is Puck's football number?" Mr. Schuester asked.

Rachel stifled her eye roll and tried to think back to all the times she'd seen Puck in his uniform.

"I'm fairly certain it's red," Rachel supplied, tugging at her sweatpants.

"Warm," Puck snickered.

Mr. Schuester looked like he was about to intervene, so Rachel held up her finger in the universal sign for I'm thinking.

"In the twenties?" Rachel said with closed eyes.

"Warmer," Puck said.

"Rachel," Mr. Schuester warned.

"Twenty?" she finally asked, looking up at Puck for conformation.

"Nice guess, Biggie Smalls," Puck laughed taking a step forward to a blue dot. Rachel followed his lead.

"What's a Biggie Smalls?" Rachel asked.

Puck shook his head and smirked, "Rapper."

"Oh."

"Santana and Blaine," Artie took over, "To yellow, left hand."

"Blaine, who is Santana's best friend?" Mr. Schuester questioned.

"Quinn?" He conjectured. Santana nodded and they both sought out the nearest yellow dot.

"Quinn and Mercedes. Left foot, yellow," Artie called.

"What is Mercedes' last name?" Mr. Schuester inquired.

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't know."

"Jones," Mercedes snapped. "Same as it was when it was called out last week for the whole school to hear."

Artie's whistle shrilled through the room. Rachel clapped her hands over her ears and glared.

"No sassing your teammate," Artie corrected.

"We're doing good though, guys," the teacher added to encourage them.

"I have absolutely no interest in what's in that stupid fish bowl," Rachel grumbled.

"Two hundred bucks is two hundred bucks," Puck said quietly, looking over her with a shrug.

Rachel hadn't heard the question Mr. Schuester asked Mike but silently applauded as they moved forward. Brittany then asked Kurt what position Finn played in football, and apparently got it very wrong by answering, "Pitcher?" Everyone laughed, including Kurt.

"I don't understand," Rachel muttered.

"Pitchers are in baseball," Puck explained, still smiling over Kurt's mistake. "Finn is quarterback."

"At least it was a real sport term," Rachel laughed.

"Rachel and Puck's right hand to red," Artie tolled out.

"What does Rachel smell like?" Brittany asked.

Rachel nearly choked over her own giggles as she watched Puck eye his friend.

"What kind of question is that?" he demanded. "She smells like glitter and rainbows and all things Broadway."

She couldn't keep herself from giggling obnoxiously at his response. She had to clutch at his sweats to keep from toppling over as she bent forward and placed her hand on a red circle.

"Rachel," Mr. Schuester started to admonish her.

Flipping her hair out of her face she looked up smiling, "I wear a perfume created by Barbra Streisand."

Puck grinned and joined her, shaking his head as if to clear it. When no one else argued their teacher had no choice but to let them go. Rachel half listened as Santana incorrectly guessed Blaine's middle name.

"Eventually we're going to run out of things we know about one another," Rachel whispered. Puck quirked his eyebrows at her. "My middle name is Barbra, I'm fifteen until December 18th, I have two fathers named Hiram and Leroy, I don't know my mother."

"Middle name is Elijah, turned eighteen August 3rd, I live with my mom, Ava, and my dad fucked off when I was thirteen. His name was Eli," Puck responded quietly. "I play left tackle, can play guitar, my favorite band is Led Zeppelin."

"My favorite class in English, and I'm rotten at math. I'm vegan and I really miss the taste of real cheese. I love fireworks and concerts and I prefer Kansas," she muttered trying to find a more comfortable postition.

They both looked up startled as Artie's whistle sounded again on Quinn and Mercedes, forcing the girls back to the start.

"I've got offers from Michigan and Florida for scholarships once I graduate," Puck continued.

"Oh, that's fabulous," Rachel beamed at him.

"Focus, Dr. Dre," Puck hushed her. "But I don't think I'll go anywhere if I don't get an offer from Ohio State. My backup plan is to work with Kurt's dad at his auto shop."

"My leg is cramping, this is really uncomfortable," Rachel hissed. "I'm going to go to Julliard. My dream is to play Elphaba in _Wicked_. Or be in _Chicago_ or_ Les Miz_. I have a cat named Boo and I'm allergic to dogs and latex."

"Puck and Rachel, right hand to green," Artie called.

"What is Puck's favorite band?" Mr. Schuester asked. He looked like he was having the time of his life.

"Led Zeppelin," Rachel smirked as she and Puck moved forward.

Rachel groaned. This is where thing were going to start getting interesting. In order to reach her next circle Rachel had to go either above or below a precariously perched Finn. She stared at her predicament thinking until Puck motioned for her to start going over. She followed his advice as Finn tried to get as close to the ground as possible while maintaining his position.

"Just go under me," Finn grouched, his body wobbling slightly.

"Fuck that," Puck hissed. "You'll fall and crush my midget and we'll have to start over."

"I am not a midget!" Rachel hissed back. "Just stay where you are Finn, I can do it without you going any lower."

Rachel couldn't see Puck anymore, but she could hear him arguing quietly with Finn. She looked up and came face to face with Kurt, who appeared to be having even less fun than she was. She smiled at him, happy when he returned it.

"Yo, Tupac, watch your drawers," she heard Puck say.

"Watch my what?" she called back.

"Your pants," Finn snapped.

"Oh sweet, Céline Dion," Rachel sighed.

"Finn and Kurt to right hand green!" Artie called before she was able to do anything about her 'drawers'.

"Finn what does Kurt's dad do for a living?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"So help me, Hudson, you better fuckin' get this," she heard Puck growl. "If you fall on me you're dead."

"Uh, cars?" Finn huffed. "He fixes cars and stuff."

"Yep," Kurt affirmed. He hastened to move as Finn tried to untangle himself from Puck and Rachel.

"You're stepping on my hand Frakenteen!" Santana shrieked.

Artie's whistle trilled out again as Finn and Kurt both went crashing to the floor.

Rachel just barely managed to remain upright as she narrowed her eyes at Santana for shoving.

"Santana, why did you do that?" Mr. Schuester demanded.

"He was on my hand!" She defended. "And he is outlandishly tall."

Rachel looked back to see that Finn and Kurt had gone back to the outside of the mats, Blaine and Santana slowly following. She was relieved to see that Puck had also managed to hold the pushup like form he was currently in.

"Puck and Tupac, right feet to blue," Artie called.

Rachel was surprised it was their turn again, admonishing herself for not paying close enough attention. Then she decided listening to the others was probably the last distraction she needed.

"Are the rapper jokes going to end when I put my own clothes back on?" Rachel inquired with a resigned huff.

"No!" she heard Blaine, Tina, Artie, and Puck respond with laughs.

"Puck, what is Rachel's favorite flavor slushy?" Mr. Schuester asked.

"That is hardly a fair question!" Rachel protested.

"Grape," Puck stated confidently. "You always lick your lips before you clean grape slushies off."

Rachel gaped at him as he move forward into a more restful position. She nodded that he was correct as she moved to her next dot. Doing this however, brought her into very close quarters with her partner. His shoulder brushing against her side as she almost collapsed in hysterics.

"What the hell?" Puck exclaimed, leaning as far away from her as he could.

"Sorry," she said, trying to get her breathing under control. "I'm ticklish."

"How's your leg, Slim Shady?" Puck asked once she'd caught her breath.

"Oh, it's fine. Thank you for asking. I was just in a peculiar position," Rachel responded politely.

Puck nodded at her as he listened to Mike get another question right, resulting in them being in the lead. Rachel snorted as she watched her best friend awkwardly do some sort of backwards crab walk to get to the next circle.

Finn and Kurt made it back onto the mat as Finn correctly guessed what kind of car Kurt drove. She could hear Santana and Blaine whispering furiously and complaining as the team of boys blocked their way onto the board.

"N.W.A left hand to yellow," Artie called out.

"The only named I've even recognized is Tupac," Rachel snipped. "He was a fabulous poet, you know?"

"What does Puck want to do when he grows up?" Brittany asked.

"Play football for OSU?" Rachel said, not quite sure if that counted as what he wanted to do when he grew up.

"After college," Mr. Schuester clarified.

"Uh, professional football?" she guessed.

Puck nodded and the two began to attempt to figure out how they would maneuver to their next places.

"I'm going to go up there," Puck pointed, speaking softly to Rachel as the game continued around them. "And get down like I was before. You can go over me to there."

Rachel shrugged her shoulders, figuring his plan was as good as any. Secretly she was glad he had asked her to go over as she felt she was much more likely to be able to hold the more delicately balanced position and she wasn't strong enough to be confident about the whole pushup looking thing. Plus, she thought as they managed to get into place, her falling on him would hurt a lot less than him crashing down into her.

Everyone was beginning to take the game more seriously now, Rachel thought. Seeing as they were thinking more about their answers and trying to help each other out by cooperating as much as was possible.

"Arghh," she moaned as her arms started to quiver. "I can't stay like this much longer."

Puck glanced up to her from where he was, and she marveled at how well he seemed to be holding up. She supposed playing football was good for those kinds of things. She could see that Tina was faring in a similar fashion, and Finn and Kurt's faces were matching shades of red. If she hadn't been about to fall she'd have found it funny.

"Put a little of your weight on me for a bit," Puck told her.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked thankfully. "You won't fall?"

"I'll be fine, Slim," Puck assured her.

Rachel did as she was told, resting her hips into his back. She was excruciatingly embarrassed by the small purring noise she had let slip as her arms got a break. She could feel the chuckle that left Puck through his back; it made her stomach flutter and her face heat.

"Mike and Tina get first!" she hears Mr. Schuester exclaim a couple of seconds later.

She can hear them flipping through the papers in the bowl as they each fish out a prize. The excited squeak Tina lets out brings a smile to her face, and she's happy her friend won.

"You two can leave if you want," Mr. Schuester tells them. "Go enjoy your prizes."

"Jay-Z and Beyoncé right foot to red," Artie informed them as Tina and Mike grabbed their things to leave. "If you get this you're second place!"

"What does Rachel consider to be the worst experience of her life?" Mr. Schuester questioned.

Rachel groaned, knowing they hadn't talked about this. Her arms were aching so badly and she was resting so much of her weight on Puck already she was sure if she had to keep it up much longer she'd start saying the curse words that were scrolling through her head out loud. She felt Puck sigh, as he thought about it.

"Probably that time Fuck Stick trapped her in a PortaPotty for seven hours," Puck stated.

Rachel grinned ecstatically as she and Puck moved their way into the center. She sighed happily as she fell into a cross legged position next to Brittany. Puck stood up and gestured for Rachel to draw first. Slipping her hand into the bowl she twirled it around before she plucked a piece of paper out. She smiled; satisfied by the two movie passes she was rewarded. Standing she waited for Puck to draw out whatever he wanted, he drew a couple of times before smirking.

"You two can go now," Mr. Schuester smiled at them. "Good job."

She gathered her things quickly and followed Puck from the room. Hearing the _tink_ sound that signaled a text message she pulled her phone from her bag, reading the message as she and Puck exited the front of the building.

**I forgot you! Do you want me to come back and pick you up?** Tina's frantic text read.

Rachel stopped, staring around at the parking lot, considering her options. Sighing heavily she plopped down on the stairs, preparing to text her back to ask her to come and get her.

"What's wrong, Slim?" Puck asked, stopping in his tracks to turn back and look at her.

"I normally ride with Tina," she explained. "But I guess she forgot me in her haste to take advantage of whatever she won."

Puck watched her silently for several seconds before jerking his head toward the parking lot, saying, "C'mon, Dollface, I'll give you a ride."

"My name is Rachel," she said in a puff. She trooped after him anyways, typing out a response to Tina to let her friend know she'd got a ride.

"I know your name," Puck snickered as he unlocked the passenger's door of his truck and helped her in. She watched him incredulously as he walked around to climb into the driver's seat.

"Then why don't you use it?" she challenged, pointing him in the direction of her house.

"I do," he replied.

"Berry is my surname," she retorted. "It doesn't count."

"You don't call me anything," he stated.

"I call you Puck," she disagreed. "Just like everyone else."

"I've never heard it," Puck stated.

"Take a left at the next light, _Puck_," she said and smiled over at him. He just scoffed and did as she instructed. "Would you prefer for me to call you Noah?"

His response was to gaze over at her for a moment, making her nervous and her face warm up again.

"Watch the road," she gasped.

"What prize did you get?" he asked her once he'd completed the next turn.

"Movie passes," she shrugged.

"And you didn't draw again?" he prodded.

"I told you I didn't care what was in that stupid bowl. I hate that stupid bowl," she said dismissively. "What'd you get?"

"Hundred bucks," he grinned.

Rachel wasn't surprised, and then the two lapsed into silence as Puck continued the drive to her house. He only spoke to ask her for directions. After a few moments she remembered their last question during the Battle Challenge and what Tina had told her over the weekend. She contemplated bringing it up quietly, wondering if it would be one of those things that a normal person wouldn't mind but would set him off. Her curiosity ended up getting the best of her.

"Did you find me that day Stick locked me in the portable toilet?" she asked him with a soft voice.

Puck glanced over to her quickly before turning back to the road and replying, "Yeah."

"And you took me to see the nurse?" she probed.

"Yes, Slim. Why?" Puck demanded.

She considered letting it go, noting the hesitant tone in his voice. Instead she asked, "Were you looking for me?"

He pulled into her driveway and slammed his truck into park, getting out quickly and making his way to her side of the car. Rachel sat stunned as he opened the door and helped her down. Dumbfounded, she took her bag from him as he shut the door again.

"No. I noticed you were missing," he growled.

Then he walked away, leading them up the path for her front porch. In a daze Rachel fumbled with her keys before she manages to unlock and push open the heavy wooden front door.

"Why?" she asked, her voice soft.

Puck shoved his hands in his pockets and remained silent for what she thought was an inordinate amount of time. It was unnerving, how he scrutinized her so openly.

"Because I just noticed you weren't there, and had this feeling like you needed me," he rumbled. His voice taking on that guarded tone again.

Rachel couldn't think of a response and luckily for her it didn't appear that Puck was in need of one. He turned as she entered her house and was in his truck and gone as soon as she was locking the door behind herself.

Later that night, as she was sitting down to eat take out alone and wishing her father's wouldn't have had to go on yet another business trip, she finally realized she was still wearing Puck's sweatpants. Having no idea what to do, she grabbed her iPhone and pulled up his number.

**I forgot to give you your pants back. Sorry. I'll bring them tomorrow?** She typed out quickly, sending it before she could talk herself out of it.

**I know. Keep em. **Puck's reply came almost instantaneously.

**Are you sure?** She asked, wondering why he'd give her his pants and why she was kind of happy about it.

**Yeah. Im goin 2 sleep. Football meeting early 2mrrw. **He responded.

How does one reply to that? Rachel wondered, her fingers hovering over her screen. She didn't know why he'd told her anyways.

**Okay. Sleep well.** She felt ridiculous as soon as she hit send and immediately wished she could take it back.

**Night doll.** Puck sent.

She stared at her phone for quite some time after that, ignoring the late showing of _The Sound of Music_ she had been looking forward to all day. She ate, staring stupidly at her phone as she finished her less than satisfying meal, not at all capable of coming up with any reasonable way to take the last twenty-four hours; or even the last couple of week.

Resigned and exhausted she gave up. Crawling into bed with his sweats wrapped warmly around her body she nearly felt sick with the way her stomach wouldn't settle and heat kept flushing her body. Ruffling her pillows violently she flicked her iPod on and lulled herself to sleep with the poignant crooning of Jeff Buckley.

_Love is not a victory march. It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah…_

* * *

**Heyy, I was going to update tomorrow, then I realized it was Christmas and I assume people have better things to do on Christmas than read my fanfiction. lol. So here you go; a day early. I want to thank everyone for the reviews, the favs, and follows. I'm blown away that so many people are interested, seriously. I'd love to hear from all of you; let me know what you think, what you want to happen, who you want to happen, anything. =)**

**xox Charlie**


	4. The Second Alliance

**I don't own shhhh...it.**

* * *

The First Annual William McKinley Battle Royale

"I can't believe it's Wednesday already," Tina bemoaned as she signaled to turn her car into the school parking lot.

"I can't believe we actually went an entire week without getting slushied," Rachel added as Tina pulled into an available spot and they slowly got out of the car.

Rachel smiled as she and Tina walked leisurely toward the school. She was reveling in the warm breeze that twirled her hair; the sensations lovely and relaxing. She listened halfheartedly as Tina detailed some new project she was doing in art, too enthralled by the weather and mystifying thoughts about Battle Assembly that afternoon to participate as much as she normally would, but Blaine, who had caught up with them, was taking up her slack so she continued to let her mind drift. That was until her eyes landed on the exact thing that had been clouding her mind for the last week.

He was leaning against the railing at the bottom of the stairs, smiling lazily. It was the smile she had come to associate with when he was in a genuinely good mood; the one he reserved for rare moments with Mike when he spoke to his best friend unguarded or when Brittany would walk up to him beaming in the hallway to show him something or launch into some ridiculous tale only he and Mike seemed to understand fully—it was the one he'd worn last Wednesday as she joined him for the challenge.

She shook her head; trying to remember that that thought was absurd. She tried to take her eyes off him, and she told herself she would have easily accomplished just that if he hadn't turned away from Mike just as she was about to glance over at Tina and watched her approach the school, that smile never slipping from his face. He continued his conversation with Mike, who was making exaggerated motions with his arms and grinning broadly, but he kept his eyes trained on Rachel until a van pulled up to the curb blocking him from her sight.

When the van pulled away she observed in quiet disbelief as Puck and Mike called out to Artie before he could begin the trek to the wheelchair ramp all the way around at the back of the building. She watched on as Artie rolled over to them hesitantly, not quite believing her eyes as Puck leaned down a little bit before engaging Artie in he and Mike's weird secret handshake like he'd been involved the whole time, like it wasn't the single most meaningful action Puck and Mike could make to another guy, like it was just the typical fist bump that all guys did and not something widely known and recognized as _Puck and Mike's_. Her mouth fell open as right after Mike got done repeating the motions he and Puck both grabbed a side of Artie's wheelchair and carried him up the steps.

"Is this real life?" Tina wondered aloud.

"Oh my God," Rachel looked over to see Kurt standing beside Blaine watching the scene with the same skepticism. "Did you see the look on Finn's face? It was like he just watched a stranger snatch his inheritance right out from under him."

Rachel didn't respond as they all continued to their lockers and separated to go their different ways, but she couldn't help but think he had. Finn had been pulled up under Mike's wing when he'd made the football team his freshmen year, and while it hadn't been Puck who had taken an interest in him he had accepted the younger boy into his good graces nonetheless. Rachel had figured that when Puck and Mike graduated Finn would hold their place, along with whomever he chooses. But they had never gone as far as to fully allow Finn into their super-secret Puck and Mike only club.

It appeared that Finn had been operating under the same assumptions as Rachel. She had seen Puck and Mike interact with many of their friends, most of whom were fellow football players, and other athletes of sorts; it was obvious that out of that group Finn was Puck's favorite by a long shot. Though it really wasn't too much of an accomplishment because she knew Puck tended to only treat them with a mildly pleasant indifference. He was the distant, unflinching leader, he was unparalleled and while getting in with Puck because his best friend showed an interest in you cemented you as one of _Puck's_ comrades it was nothing compared to Puck brining you in himself. He'd chosen Artie and in doing so had undone the social hierarchy that had been impenetrable, and he had done it at Finn's expense, because Artie was now undoubtedly held in higher esteem to Puck.

Rachel couldn't help but to find this worrisome. She assumed that the majority of McKinley would take it in stride; looking on astounded for several days or weeks, but eventually they'd all accept it and evolve around it. Others, she feared, wouldn't take so kindly to the reordering. Finn, along with Quinn and Santana, Stick and Karofsky were more apt to find personal offense in Puck's actions and feel like they'd been cheated. It wouldn't go over smoothly, and Artie was about to be caught in the cross fire.

She listened closely to the whispers that began to crash through the halls between classes like waves against crags stuck out at sea. Rachel witnessed a Cheerio stop Karofsky and mummer the news to him in hushed tones between first and second period. She winced as the large football player's face contorted and oozed from his natural color to something more closely resembling a plum's innards. As he stalked off, undoubtedly in search of Puck or someone closer to the source to confirm the news, Rachel slipped into a janitor's closet to wait out his enraged bull run down the hallway.

"Rachel?" she heard come from behind where she was pushed up against the door, trying to listen for the talking to start back up as a signal the coast would be clear.

She spun around, slapping her hand over her mouth to muffle her startled shriek. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the closet she could make out the sight of Brittany standing in the corner, her binder clutched to her chest.

"Brittany? What are you doing in here?" Rachel questioned once her heart rate had returned to normal.

"Hiding," she told her. "People keep asking me all these weird questions and Quinn and Santana were yelling at me, so I found this cave. I've been here since this morning. I couldn't find my way back out so I texted Puck to come find me, but he hasn't yet."

"What did you tell him?" Rachel asked, hoping Brittany didn't see the incredulous look on her face before she'd been able to hide it.

"That I got lost in Narnia," she explained.

Rachel wondered if telling the other girl that they were in fact not in a mythical land ruled by children and a lion would be a good idea or if it would just end up being devastating to her. Instead she turned back around to listen at the door telling Brittany she was positive Puck was on his way. In reality she figured she would end up having to convince Brittany to leave with her and maybe show her the way to her next class.

Rachel was honestly surprised that she didn't mind the prospect; before she had thought that maybe Brittany dumbed herself down because of Santana and Quinn or because she felt it was more attractive, but the more time she'd been around her she was beginning to realize the cheerleader was sincerely just being herself. The fact that Brittany was convinced she had been snatched from another realm and forced to live here until her followers finally found her now just seemed like some strange fact that Rachel could accept in stride. She was a nice person, who had never been openly hateful to Rachel or anyone, and that more than made up for sometimes having to pretend to be Brittany's elven fairy god mother.

"Alright, I think it's probably safe if we go out now," Rachel said, turning back around to look at Brittany. "Are you coming?"

"Puck said if I ever get lost that I should stay where I am until he finds me," Brittany stated seriously. "That way I don't end up more lost. Like that time I ended up in the elephant exhibit at the zoo."

Rachel just gaped at her, not knowing how to respond for several seconds.

"Come on," Rachel insisted, holding out her hand for Brittany. "It'll be okay."

Brittany took her hand, but when Rachel made to lead her out she just held her ground. Tugging Rachel further into the closet with her, her ponytail swinging as she shook her head, she refused to let Rachel leave.

"We have to wait for Puck to find us," Brittany insisted. "Or else he'll be worried once he gets here and we're gone. He'll think we've been abducted."

"I'm sure he'll just assume that we've managed to make our way to our classes successfully on our own," Rachel argued.

Brittany just continued to shake her head, swinging their hands back and forth amusingly. Rachel sighed, listening to Brittany as she began to hum a made up tune, and resigned herself to waiting for a little while longer before she tried again to get Brittany to allow her to lead the way from the room.

She was committed to the thought that Puck would never be able to find them, assuming that he'd have little to no idea where to begin searching for Brittany off of the information given by his friend. Which is why she was thoroughly shocked when the door swung open and Puck's frame was suddenly filling the doorway, his face somewhere between aggravated and amused. It shifted quickly to a questioning smile as he took in the sight of Brittany grinning widely up at him, still clutching Rachel's hand as she continued to swing them. Rachel huffed as Puck looked them over, chuckling as he leaned onto the doorframe.

"What's goin' on?" he asked.

Behind him people began to filter out of the hallway towards their classes, most trying to catch a peek of whoever Puck was talking to without him noticing their prying.

"I was hiding from Santana and Quinn because they were yelling at me," Brittany explained. "Then Rachel showed up. She said she knew the way out, but you said to always wait. So I made sure we did."

Puck nodded as though getting lost in a closet was totally natural for Brittany, before he turned to Rachel, asking, "Why were you hiding?"

Rachel considered telling him that she wasn't hiding, she just spent a lot of her time inspecting closets or something, but he looked more serious as he asked her. She figured finding her in a closet, lost in Narnia, wasn't something he'd accept at face value, seeing as he was perfectly aware that she could navigate her way out without his assistance.

"I was hiding from Karofsky," she admitted.

"What'd he do?" Puck growled.

"Nothing. I was simply taking precautionary measures," Rachel snipped.

"Why?" Puck demanded; he wasn't going to let her off easily.

"Because I didn't want to be caught in his path right after he'd been told about your latest royal decree," Rachel quipped sarcastically.

As always he just smirked at her, the fact that Brittany was swinging her arm around like she was a rag doll probably subtracting from the venom Rachel had laced in her voice. So instead of keeping up what appeared to be an unnecessary malicious façade she dropped the act and let her shoulders sag as she looked up at him.

He studied her quietly, Brittany content to continue humming her made up song under her breath until Puck finished questioning Rachel. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his Mohawk, before he closed his eyes and focused on evening out his breathing.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice rough and low.

His eyes were intent on Rachel as she explained what she'd seen.

"Then his face became this unnatural shade of purple and he stormed off. I figured he was looking for you," Rachel stated. "Apparently the imbecile was unsuccessful. I am not surprised."

"I'll take care of it," he groaned. "You don't have to hide in closets."

Rachel looked at him, thoroughly unconvinced.

"No one's going to mess with you either way," he snapped at her. "Can't you just trust me?"

"Why should I trust you?" Rachel retorted.

"Why wouldn't you trust Puck?" Brittany asked, unbelievably concerned as to why Rachel wouldn't trust Puck as explicitly as she did.

Neither Puck nor Rachel responded, both choosing to remain entrenched in a starting contest. Puck moved to the side, his head motioning for Brittany to take her leave from the closet. His eyes never left Rachel as the Cheerio squeezed past him, stopping momentarily to get her bearings before heading off in what Rachel was fairly sure was a randomly chosen direction. The hallway was deserted now; the only sound left was the retreating squeak of Brittany's sneakers.

"What do you want, _Puck_?" Rachel glared up at him.

"I want you to trust me," he responded, not returning Rachel's attitude in the slightest. "And I want you to stop saying my name like that."

"You've never given me a single solitary reason to trust you," Rachel informed him. "And that is your name, is it not? That is what you prefer to be called, correct?"

"You don't have a reason to trust me?" Puck scoffed. "You're oblivious."

"Excuse me?" Rachel snapped, trying to push her way past him to get away.

"You're oblivious," Puck reiterated, blocking her path with his body, his hand curling around her upper arm to keep her in place.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"Have I done anything to you this year?" Puck questioned. His grip on her arm was gentle; just a reminder that he didn't want her to walk away, but loose enough that she could if she really wanted to.

"That doesn't change all the things you've done to me in the past," Rachel asserted. "It doesn't all just get erased because you've decided I'm not worth your time anymore. If you had never thrown that slushy on me the first time, I probably could have gone completely unnoticed. Everyone else would have left me alone; you'd have forgotten about my existence and I wouldn't have been miserable!"

Puck scoffed, "You wouldn't have gone unnoticed. I wasn't the first person to go after you. Don't talk about things you don't understand."

"Why don't you explain it to me then Puck?" Rachel challenged.

"Not right now," Puck said, exasperated. "Just trust me. You're safe."

"What did you do?" Rachel asked. She had been entirely set on not believing a word he said, until his voice had taken on the same quality he'd had last year when he'd sat talking to her in the library. The soft, soothing voice that assured her he was being sincere.

"Don't worry about it," he brushed her inquiry aside. "Just trust I'll handle Kaorfsky. You don't have to hide from him."

She was uncertain, not sure that Puck would be able to contain the resentment he'd brought upon himself from some of the other kids who were more invested in their popularity. Eventually she gave in, shrugging her shoulders unenthusiastically. After a second's hesitation, where it seemed that her lackluster response wasn't going to live up to his standards, he nodded and moved to the side and dropped his hand from her arm.

"If anyone does anything let me know," Puck called after her. "If it's a football or hockey player remind them of the consequences I said there'd be if they disobeyed orders."

"What did you do?" she asked again, looking back over her shoulder at him.

He was walking backwards in the opposite direction so he could still see her. He smirked, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll make sure to let your mindless sycophants know," Rachel called back. "But I'd be concerned about Artie if I were you."

"Don't worry about it," he told her again. Then he disappeared around a corner and Rachel finally remembered she was going to be late to her class.

The rest of the day after that went by in a similar fashion—not the stuck in a closet with Brittany part, but Brittany was apparently avoiding a very upset Santana and Quinn which seemed to confound the girl quite a bit and resulted in her randomly showing up at Rachel's side throughout the day. Brittany acted like it was a commonplace occurrence, and Rachel didn't really mind. Blaine and Tina accepted it happily after a hasty explanation from them of what had happened that morning. The rest of the school, however, didn't seem capable of not gaping at them openly puzzled about the second unexpected friendship of the day.

Lunch was a chaotic affair. Rachel sat at her normal table with Blaine and Tina, and for all of five minutes she thought it was going to continue on like any other day. Then Brittany dropped down into the seat next to Rachel, shoving a chair out of the way so Artie could roll in beside her calling a happy, "What up, ya'll?" to everybody. It was fairly easy to fall into conversation with Artie and Brittany; they were comfortable with each other, which helped ease Artie in to the tentative group they seemed to be forming.

When Kurt lead a wary Mercedes over to their group, sinking into a chair next to Blaine like he owned the place, everyone quieted down unsure of how to interact outside of Battle Assembly. After a few awkward moments Blaine managed to work Kurt and Mercedes into the mix, Mercedes lighting up as Brittany complemented her on her necklace.

Once the nerves brought about by the newness of the situation began to recede Rachel couldn't help the grin that had overtaken her face. She had been grateful for Blaine's friendship, and over the moon about Tina's; having the two of them had been more than Rachel had hoped for at the beginning of the school year. But sitting there literally surrounded by a group of people was something she had never even dared to think about. It was blissful, sitting watching Blaine's hand rest just a little too long on Kurt's arm and sharing a knowing smile with Mercedes, hearing Artie explain to Brittany that Mr. Schue's hair wasn't actually contaminated by toxic goo like Coach Sue had told her it was, and shuffling food all around so everyone had exactly what they wanted.

It was almost easy to ignore the whispers of confusion swirling through the room and the glares sent by some of the less accepting kids. And they would have managed had it not been for Quinn and Santana. They were seething at a table across the cafeteria with a few other Cheerios and football players, including Puck, Mike, Finn and Kaorfsky. Their table appeared to be silent, and the food on their trays was going untouched. Finn sat unmoving, glaring at the table in front of him, Quinn and Santana glowered openly at Puck who was leaned back in his chair as he let his eyes roam idly over the table's occupants. There was a seat vacant beside Santana, screaming the obvious lack of Brittany from the group.

Rachel could see Kaorfsky grumble something as she shoved his tray away from himself harshly. His chair screeched across the floor as he stood abruptly, still obviously addressing the table. His eyes narrowed as they settled on Puck, his speech coming to an end. Puck didn't respond. He ignored the outburst completely, instead leaning forward and taking a drink from his slushy. How they always seemed to have those Rachel didn't know.

In the next second Quinn and Santana seemed to have had enough of whatever was going on at their table. They stood, grabbed the slushies from the middle of the table and began their way over to the table Rachel and her friends were gathered around. Rachel watched as they crossed the room, anyone in their way hastening to sit down at the nearest table, their eyes locked on Rachel and Artie.

The room fell silent as Rachel and Brittany stood from their seats. Rachel didn't know exactly what she planned on doing, or if Brittany understood what was going on, but she didn't want to look as intimidated by them as she actually was.

"Brittany," Quinn barked. "What do you think you're doing?"

Rachel watched as the smile Brittany had at the sight of her friends coming over faded into a lost look as she looked from them to Rachel and Artie beside her.

"I was just sitting with Rachel and Artie," Brittany explained, trying to smile again.

"They're losers, Britt," Santana informed. "Come back and sit with us."

"But… Puck said I didn't have to sit with you guys if I didn't want to," Brittany whimpered, looking over their heads to where Puck, Mike and Finn were standing with some of the other kids from their crowd.

"No one cares what Puck says," Quinn snapped, her eyes flicking over Artie in disgust.

"Oh, please, Quinn," Rachel interjected. "That's a blatant lie, and everyone knows it. You can't stand here and say you don't care what Puck thinks, that's what all this is about."

"Shut the fuck up, RuPaul," Santana ordered. "No one cares about you at all."

"I do," Brittany insisted.

"You don't know what you care about Brittany," Quinn told her. "She's a freak."

"Puck cares," Brittany told them. "He said I could be her friend if I wanted. He said you'd get mad because you're jealous."

"Jealous?" Santana laughed. "Of what? Her? Why would we ever be jealous of her? She's practically a leper."

"She's not a jungle cat," Brittany defended. She looked over at Rachel, as if to double check.

"That's not what they meant, Brittany," Rachel said placing her hand on the other girl's arm. She then turned to Santana and Quinn. "I think Puck meant you're jealous because you think he likes me more than he likes you."

"That's bullshit," Santana retorted. "It's not true and if it were we wouldn't care anyways."

"You do care," Rachel replied. "You're terrified."

What happened next is where it really started to get out of hand. Rachel squeezed her eyes shut as she saw Quinn and Santana make to toss their slushies on her, but was shocked into opening them almost immediately as Brittany shoved her back, trying to get in front of her. Brittany yelped as the red ice crashed into her face, only a few drops managed to get onto Rachel.

The only sound in the room was the slushy dripping from a distraught Brittany to the floor and the scuffling being created by Puck as he cursed and struggled against Mike and Finn who were having a difficult time keeping him from lashing out violently. Rachel was wearing the same stunned look Santana and Quinn were, all gazing at Brittany as she began to sob, turning to Rachel and Tina with her arms outstretched.

"Rachel," she was brought out of her shell shock by Puck snarling her name.

She looked over Santana's shoulder as the girl began to move toward Brittany and locked eyes with him. He calmed as she gazed at him wide eyed, he stopped struggling and held her gaze before flicking his eyes to where Brittany was trying to get as far away from Santana and Quinn as possible, her hand clutching onto Rachel's desperately. They were moving forward toward Brittany slowly, as if they couldn't get their limbs to cooperate. Everyone seemed to be stuck in slow motion, even Rachel battled to get her bearings, knowing Puck had put her in charge of the situation, asked her to protect Brittany.

She was finally able to get a breath as everything began to move normally again. She could hear Brittany calling her name and telling Santana and Quinn to stay away from her, and she could hear them yelling to her that they hadn't meant to slushy her; they had meant it to hit Rachel. This only seemed to upset Brittany further, and Rachel wished they would shut up. She wished she could scream at them that Brittany didn't care who it had been meant for, she didn't understand why they would have done it either way. She shook her head as she finally got her thoughts in order, prying her hand from Brittany and handing her to Tina, who was rapidly digging through her bag to find her Slushy Survival Kit.

"Stop it!" Rachel commanded. "You're making it worse. Just go away. I'll handle it."

"Fuck of, Gremlin!" Santana yelled back. "You don't know her. Get out of the way."

"No! Leave us alone!" Rachel ordered, blocking Santana's way as Tina found her things and began to help Brittany get the slushy off her face.

"Move," Quinn demanded. "Or she'll make you."

"I won't," Rachel began, putting up her hands to prevent them from getting around her.

She was cut off by Santana's hand making contact with her cheek. The force behind the slap was enough to send Rachel stumbling back into Artie, who had wheeled himself between Rachel and Brittany and Tina. Tears sprung to her eyes as she let Artie do all the work to keep her upright. She couldn't think, her mind was buzzing as she reeled and she heard Artie distantly ask if she was okay.

"Fuck! Let me fucking go," Puck growled. "Rachel, damn it!"

His voice shattered the bubble her mind had wrapped around her, bringing her undivided attention back to him. She had never seen his face so distorted with fury, she wasn't surprised another of the football guys had had to grab onto him to keep him from interfering. She knew he wanted her to defend herself, but Rachel had never been in a fight in her life and she was quite sure, judging by the remorseless, smug look on Santana's face, that she didn't stand a chance and she was morally opposed to using violence as a means to deal with disagreements anyways. Not knowing what else to do she screamed.

"LET HIM GO!" she tried to infuse her voice with the authority Puck usually controlled the football team with, the voice she'd heard him use on Stick, the one he reserved for when he wanted people to know he was being deadly serious.

The four wrestling boys stilled, all looking at her disbelievingly, having expected her to retaliate differently. Santana and Quinn backed away from her dumbfounded. The rest of the room gawked. When they didn't move to let Puck go she stamped her foot angrily.

"Now," she growled once again putting Puck's power into her order.

She was surprised when they loosened their grip, turning to Puck almost as if to ask if they were supposed to do as she instructed. Puck shrugged Mike and Finn from his arms and then roughly shoved the blond haired guy off him.

"Don't ever fucking touch me again," he growled at Finn and the blond. He exchanged a glance with his best friend before stomping forcefully over to the girls. Mike followed him without question.

He didn't stop to confront Santana or Quinn. He didn't even acknowledge them. He was focused exclusively on Rachel, stopping to take her face in his hands to examine the spot Santana had slapped. Rachel sighed as the rough pad of this thumb ghosted over the inflamed skin, sending shockwaves of pleasure through her. Mike slunk past them to Tina and Brittany, checking to see how they were doing.

"Are you okay?" Puck asked her gently.

"Yeah," she whispered. "I'm just…"

She couldn't finish her sentence; all she could do was cling to him as he turned to face their aggressors. It was taking an extraordinary effort to remain standing.

"You two get the fuck out of my sight," he directed. Rachel had never heard his voice so filled with poison. "Stay away from them. If Brittany wants to talk to you she'll let you know."

Rachel was then herded out of the cafeteria, Puck supporting most of her weight as he ushered everyone that had been sitting with she and Brittany to follow. They're guided quickly to the choir room. It's deserted in the middle of the day, and really they're the only people who use it. Rachel assumes they're amongst the only who remember it still exists shoved off at the far end of the building almost as though it had been an afterthought from the very beginning.

Puck deposited a shaky Rachel down into a seat in the front row and disappeared from her sight as she watched Artie try to coax Brittany off the floor and into a chair. Rachel smiled slightly, beginning to calm down, as Brittany wedged herself between her and Tina's legs, resting her head on Rachel's knee. She was still silently crying, but as Rachel began to twirl the other girl's hair absentmindedly her tears slowed.

"Are you okay, Bri?" Blaine asked, kneeling down in front of her.

"I just don't understand what is going on," Brittany whispered. "Why is everybody so mad at me?"

"They're not," Rachel assured. "They're upset with Puck."

"But why?" she asked softly.

Rachel couldn't help but sigh. Explaining to Brittany why someone would ever be angry with Puck was similar to trying to argue evolution to a creationist. She surveyed the room, hoping he would swoop in and explain it himself, but he and Mike had disappeared.

"Puck doesn't like them very much right now," Tina stepped in.

"Because they're being mean to people he cares about," Blaine added.

"And they're scared that it's going to change the way everyone treats them," Kurt explained as he sat next to Tina.

"Puck's doing things no one understands," Mercedes interjects. "Boys gone off the deep end."

"What is Puck doing different?" Brittany asked.

"He's telling people that they can't touch Rachel," Mike states as he walks back into the room, a change of clothes for Brittany in his hands. "Or her friends."

"I don't understand," Brittany exclaimed as she slipped new clothes on without bothering to go to the bathroom. "Puck's always liked—"

"Bri," Mike cut her off. "Puck's never drawn the line before; he's never made it clear that if someone upsets Rachel and her friends that he's taking it personally. It's strange for them because he's never done that for anyone but me and you before now."

Brittany nodded from where she'd sat back down on the floor between Rachel and Tina. Rachel wasn't sure why she seemed to understand what Mike had said, it just confused her further. Puck wasn't making any sense to her these days, and the new way he was acting was making her nervous.

"Where did he go?" Rachel asked. "Shouldn't we be going to our classes?"

"He'll be right back," Mike responded, taking a seat in the row behind them behind Tina and next to Blaine. "We'll be fine."

"We should all go to class," Rachel advised. "We can't just skip them."

"Puck said to wait for him here," Mike told her resolutely. "We'll be fine."

"Just because Puck says to do something doesn't mean we have to do it," Rachel argued.

Mike looked at her as if to say he thought she was being unreasonable.

"You can do what you want," he told her, looking as though it physically pained him to admit that. "But Puck wants you to be here when he gets back. And if you're not he'd probably just find you while you were in class. There'll much less drama if you just go along with it."

"Fine," Rachel huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She was seething over the whole situation. She had never been involved in something so close to a fight in her life and she never had any interest in being involved in that type of thing. It wasn't that she regretted standing up for Brittany; the girl was quickly becoming a close friend so it came with the territory. What had her so flustered was Puck. She was constantly being surprised by him and she was having trouble clinging to the image she had created for him in her mind. Up until this point she had been sure of who he was, her image of him indestructible. Now she was floundering, grasping at strings to hold together the picture of conceited, malicious bully. The problem was that he was being so vague and cryptic about his intentions and she didn't dare to even hazard a guess as to what was going on inside his head. The only thing she was positive of was that whatever it was she wasn't yet equipped to handle it; everything that was going on was too much too fast. She felt like she was drowning.

"Rae," Brittany called, tapping on her knee to get her attention. "Will you sing?"

Rachel beamed, glancing over at Tina and Blaine who nodded at her enthusiastically.

"Only if you sing with me," Rachel challenged.

Brittany clapped and jumped to her feet before pulling Rachel and Tina up with her.

"I'll play piano!" Blaine called, jumping down from his seat and rushing over to the black baby grand. "What song?"

"Surprise us!" Tina called to him happily.

Blaine started out a light tune gathering appreciative smiles from everyone in the room. Brittany led them all in clapping or stomping along to the beat as Rachel began the song, "Happiness hit her like a train on a track. Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back. She hid around corners and she hid under beds. She killed it with kisses and from it she fled. With every bubble she sank with a drink and washed it away down the kitchen sink."

Tina and Brittany joined her during the chorus, smiles plastered on both their faces. Rachel allowed Brittany to twirl her around as the song continued, and she was secretly amazed at how well their voices all sounded together. As she took over the second verse Artie picked up a long forgotten guitar from the corner of the room and started matching Blaine's piano playing. Somewhere during their second time through the chorus they were all singing, Kurt and Mercedes providing surprising backup vocals from their seats. Mike was smiling and stomping out a beat with his hands and feet.

Their last time through belting out "the dog days are over, the dog days are gone" Puck walked back into the room. Rachel was in the middle of an improvised dance Brittany had made up when he lowered himself into the seat beside Mike. She almost quit singing, embarrassment flooding her, until he set something down on her chair and began pounding out the beat with Mike and smiling encouragingly.

"Rachel Berry I had no idea you had pipes like that!" Kurt exclaimed as the song came to an end. He and Mercedes clapped devotedly as Brittany bowed dramatically.

"That was amazing," Artie agreed as he sat the guitar back on its stand.

"Thanks," Rachel radiated as she allowed herself to be squished between an ecstatically hugging Brittany and Tina.

"We've got to do that more often!" Blaine said taking his seat beside Mike once again.

After the girls managed to settle back down they made their way back to their seats, rearranging the front row so they were in a circle facing Puck, Mike, and Blaine in the second row.

"What's this?" Rachel asked Puck, lifting what he'd set on her chair.

"Ice," he explained taking it from her and peeling back a couple of the towels he had covered it in. When she just stared at him in astonishment he continued. "For your face. Santana can hit pretty hard. If you ice it it'll help keep it from bruising."

"Thank you," she whispered as she sat and held the ice pack to her cheek. Puck nodded in response.

"Are we just going to hide in here all day?" Mercedes wondered. She aimed the question at Puck, and Rachel couldn't help but question why they were all so willing to give him the same role with them that he held over the rest of the school. It was even more disconcerting when she found herself waiting for him to answer just like everyone else.

"We're not hiding," Puck laughed. "We're just hangin' out. Ya'll can go to class if you want."

Everyone shook their heads signifying they were quite happy to stay where they were, but Rachel asked, "Are we going to get in trouble?"

"Nah. I told the nurse Santana hit you and I didn't think you should go back to class and that we were all going to stay with you for moral support or some shit," Puck explained.

"So what are we going to do?" Artie asked. "There are still three periods before Battle Assembly."

"Are we still going to do Battle Assembly?" Kurt asked.

Rachel shifted in her seat as Brittany tossed her legs into her lap; she steadily ignored the feeling of Puck's eyes on her as she followed the conversation. She honestly didn't mind either way and when Puck looked at her quizzically she shrugged her shoulders to indicate her indifference. She figured seeing Santana and Quinn would be uncomfortable for everyone but seeing as they had managed to create this little band of loyalty between them she thought it would be worse for the three members of their team that were currently absent than any of them.

"Might as well see what Schue has cooked up," Puck decided. "We can always leave if we want."

"But what'll we do until then?" Tina reiterated Artie's original question.

"Let's play Never Have I Ever!" Brittany cried eagerly.

"What's Never Have I Ever?" Rachel asked, self-conscious because she seemed to be the only one who didn't know what Brittany was talking about.

"It's a game," Tina began.

"Typically a drinking game," Mike added.

"Where you hold up three fingers and go around the circle saying something you've never done. Every time you've done something the other person says they haven't you have to put a finger down," Tina continued, ignoring Mike completely.

"First one out losses," Artie continued. "Normally they'd take a shot."

"We can't drink!" Rachel stated bewildered. "We're at school."

"We can make up a different rule," Kurt supplied.

"Like first person out has to take a dare," Mercedes offered.

"Or answer a truth." Blaine said to ease Rachel into the game.

"Fine," Mike agreed as everyone nodded along with him. "But the people with the most fingers up when someone goes out get to pick the question or the dare."

Rachel gazed up at Puck lounging in his chair. He seemed content with the idea, and smiled at her reassuringly so she rolled her eyes and agreed reluctantly.

"Nothing bad can happen, Rae," Blaine assured her. "It's just a game."

"You say that now," Rachel quipped. "But when you're running naked through the halls don't come crying to me."

Blaine grimaced and made a face down at her eliciting giggles from Brittany. Rachel followed her new friend's lead as she held up three fingers and glanced quickly around the circle, she most certainly wasn't going first like they all seemed to think judging by the way they were staring at her. She turned to watch Puck silently refusing to give in to them. Puck shook his head in amusement.

"Never have I ever sung with Rachel Berry," Puck stated.

Rachel watched with interest as Blaine, Tina, Brittany, Artie, Kurt and Mercedes all put a finger down. They glared playfully at Puck and Mike who were able to keep three fingers up.

"Do I count as singing with myself?" Rachel asked.

"No," Puck answered. He surveyed the group to see if anyone disagreed but they remained quiet, turning their eyes to Mike so he could go.

"Never have I ever been out of Lima," he said.

"That is just sad," Rachel lamented as she, Blaine and Puck put a finger down.

"Never have I ever been slushied by Mike," Blaine took his turn. He looked around, seeing no one put their finger down.

"I'm a pacifist, man," Mike smiled.

"Never have I ever played a team sport," Mercedes went. Puck, Mike and Brittany put a finger down.

"Never have I ever liked Santana," Kurt grimaced. Brittany and Mike lowered fingers.

"Bri is first out," Mike called.

"Truth or dare, Bri?" Puck asked

"Dare!" Brittany whooped happily.

"Switch clothes with Rachel!" Mercedes called out.

Rachel scrunched her nose up as Brittany hauled her to the abandoned office that was connected to the choir room. She reluctantly exchanged her outfit for Brittany's, ending up in the strangest amalgamation of clothing she thought she'd ever seen. The shorts were high wasted and didn't cover nearly enough of her legs for Rachel to be comfortable, the pink top was sleeveless and she was positive couldn't hold more glitter if it tried. She tucked it into the shorts, emulating the way Brittany had been wearing it and then pulled on the furry orange hat, wondering why in the world it had cat ears.

Brittany skipped happily back to the circle of their team as Rachel followed along grumbling and trying to pull the shorts down just a bit further. She disregarded the joyous laughter coming from her friends as she waited patiently for them to collect themselves. Feeling his gaze burning on her, she turned to look up at Puck.

"You look ridiculous," he told her with a genuine laugh.

"Can we get back to the game now?" she huffed loudly. Everyone was still smiling like they were having the times of their lives as they all held up three fingers again and looked to Artie to take his turn.

"Never have I ever hated Puck," he stated.

Kurt and Mercedes put their fingers down instantly avoiding looking over at the boy in question. Rachel hesitated for a second, thinking to all the times she had cried over the bullying she'd gone through last year. And while she could admit now that Puck might not have been as aggressive as she made him out to be in her mind, the reason she laid so much blame on him was because he could have helped her if he had wanted; he proved that now, as she sat in this safe haven with him. He had brought her here to make sure she was okay, that her friends were okay, and he had finally drawn that line Mike had talked about before and he had put her on the same side as him, pushed protectively behind him like she mattered the way Mike did, like she was _Puck's_.

So she put her finger down for all the times last year when she had been sobbing and scared and alone; for the times she had actually thought about begging him to help her. She looked up to see him watching her again, an understanding look in his eyes, and Rachel thought maybe she was on her way to forgiving him as he followed her, putting down one of his own fingers.

"Never have I ever had a stutter," Tina admits hesitantly. No one puts a finger down but Rachel is glad when everyone accepts her disguised confession without offering up any harsh judgments.

"Never have I ever broken the igloo," Brittany says with a smile.

Mike and Puck grumbled, putting a finger down. Rachel peered around the rest of their circle, wondering if maybe she had missed something or if Brittany was talking in some sort of code no one else understood; she wouldn't have been surprised really.

"Um, what igloo?" Blaine asked, just as confused as Rachel.

"The Ultimate Super Trio Mighty Igloo!" Brittany exclaimed in a tone that clearly said, 'duh'.

"Every winter the three of us build an igloo," Mike explains. "It's tradition."

"But they always ruin it!" Brittany accused pointing her finger at them.

"They're not very sturdy," Puck grimaced.

Mike and Brittany nodded in agreement. Rachel giggled, the vision of Puck spending hours playing in the snow with his friends warming her heart in a strange way.

"Your turn, Slim," Puck prompted.

"Never have I ever been so happy," Rachel whispered shyly.

She watched as everyone gathered in the forgotten room regarded one another, all considering what she'd said. She hadn't been very specific but it was obvious what she had meant, and she was honestly shocked when not one of them put a finger down.

"Never have I ever disliked anyone here," Puck stated, his gaze was locked on Rachel as she was forced to put another finger down.

The intensity in him, in his eyes, the look on his face, the set of his shoulders, in how sure he was of himself as he uttered the sentence stole Rachel's breath. Her eyes burned as they filled with tears, she wasn't quite sure where they came from; maybe it was from how he seemed to be saying it directly to her, as some sort of assurance, or the multitude of emotions she'd been through that day coupled with the fact that she just couldn't grasp him—she couldn't grasp who he was, not when his every action was a blow to everything she'd thought she'd known about him, not when he seemed to be purposefully dealing those blows. She blinked them away, turning to Mike in tandem with the rest of the group.

"Never have I ever been sure what I was going to do with my life," Mike stated with a shrug. Rachel and Puck put down their last fingers, making them lose the round.

"Rae, truth or dare?" Blaine asked gently.

"Truth," Rachel insisted, looking at her friend wearily.

"Why do you hate Puck?" Artie asked.

"I… I don't," she stuttered.

"You put your finger down, you have to answer," Mercedes jeered harmlessly.

"I know. I just," Rachel continued to sputter, feeling Puck's eyes on her. "I don't think I do now. But I… I did. Because I blame him for everyone harassing me."

"Why?" Brittany asked.

Rachel bit her lip, doing her best to avoid Puck. She didn't want to explain it to Brittany; she didn't want to damage the girl's perception of Puck. He was her hero; Rachel could easily see that even if she didn't understand it fully. Fortunately he saved her from having to.

"Because I never helped her," he rumbled. "I could have put a stop to it, but I didn't."

"Truth or dare, Puck?" Tina interjected before Brittany could question the situation further.

"Dare," he answered.

"Kiss Rae," Brittany grinned. "They make people feel better right, like saying you're sorry!"

Rachel snapped her head to Puck; he was looking at Brittany as though he may actually refuse her dare. She hoped he would, and for a fleeting moment she was certain her heart was running a marathon, she could feel it stuttering from exhaustion in her chest. The next the only thing she could see was Puck standing from his chair and kneeling before her. She couldn't feel a thing on her body except his hand ghosting over her cheek and his fingertips curling into her hair as he pulled her to him and pressed his lips to her forehead.

He held her there for a while, tugging playfully with his free hand at the string on crazy hat she was wearing. And Rachel was horrified, not because she loathed him with every fiber of her being up until the chaotic events of the Battle had begun, but because it suddenly felt as though this had been a moment she had been waiting for her entire life. She was only more horrified when she heard the door to the choir room bang open and the sound of the footsteps of their missing teammates shuffle into the room as a tear slipped from her eye.

"What the hell?" Santana stumbled.

Rachel barely heard her as Puck finally withdrew from her, discreetly wiping the tear from her face with his thumb before he settled back into his seat.

"We're playing Never Have I Ever," Mike explained, drawing everyone's attention to him instead of Puck or Rachel. "Loser has to do truth or dare."

"Whatever you all have to tell yourselves to sleep at night," Quinn snapped as she stormed over to three leftover seats far away from the others, Santana and Finn following. She glared at Rachel and Brittany as though they had suddenly appeared before her from a distant planet she couldn't comprehend. "You both look like idiots."

"Alright guys!" Mr. Schue called as he walked into the room, fumbling to a stop as he watched the kids turn their chairs back to face him, but refused to move around to their normal seating arrangements. "What's going on?"

"Where's your body bag?" Brittany asked.

He stood gaping at all of them for several moments before he decided to solider on.

"We're not staying very long today," he smiled awkwardly. "I'll just give you your assignment and you can head out."

"So?" Kurt pressed. "What is it?"

"Well since we won last week I thought I'd let you guys off easy for this week, seeing as next week is going to be much bigger," he began. "This week I want you to spend time with your partner outside of school, but you have to bring proof that you did it. Pictures or something."

"Like, anything?" Mercedes asked.

"Whatever you want," Mr. Schue agreed.

"And what's happening next week?" Rachel asked, trying to force her thoughts into coherency.

"We're going camping!" he yelled excitedly.

"No," Rachel reputed.

"I second that," Kurt said, rising his palm in the air.

"You don't get a choice," their teacher brushed their complaints aside.

"There are wild animals," Brittany sputtered, looking as mortified as Kurt and Rachel. "I'm not allowed to play with wild animals anymore."

"The Great Zoo Fiasco of 2011 does not need a sequel," Mike grumbled.

"They looked so friendly," Brittany whispered, confused and miserable.

"This isn't negotiable guys," Mr. Schue continued, ignoring his student's protests. "On Saturday morning we'll meet in the parking lot to head out. 6 am on the dot."

"We're all going to die," Kurt moaned.

"So, I'll e-mail you any further details," Mr. Schue concluded, swinging his bag over his shoulder and waving in dismissal as he headed out of the room.

And with that Rachel was being swept out of the room by Blaine, Brittany and Tina. She threw a last glance over her shoulder at Puck as he was loading Artie and his wheelchair into his truck. He smiled at her and mimed texting her as a way to tell her they'd talk later about their plans for the newest assignment. She wouldn't have been able to stop the smile that lit up her face as she waved her understanding to him if she had honestly tried.

* * *

**Huge apologies for the delay in getting this out. I got swept up in work and New Years things and I'm just now getting back to routine. Also, thank you to every single person who has reviewed, I'm sorry I haven't replied to all of them. I'll do better. And thank you to everyone who's faved and followed. Let me know what you think. =)**

**XOX Charlie **


	5. A Waste of Two Dollars

**I don't own sh...**

* * *

Rachel was sitting cross-legged on her bed much later that night, her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail and her school books spread out all around her when her cell phone first buzzed, signaling a text message. Assuming it was Brittany having forgotten that she had told her she'd talk to her once her homework was done she ignored it. She was in the middle of taking notes from her biology book for a report when it buzzed again fifteen minutes later, agitated over her broken concentration she shut it down without bothering to check her messages. It was an hour later, while she was jotting down potential sources for her English assignment from Google, that her Skype alerted her to an incoming call. She hit the enter button on her laptop to answer the video call without looking up from where she was scrawling the last of her notes into one of the various notebooks scattered around her.

"What are you doing?" a deep voice seeped from the speakers.

Squeaking in surprise she finally looked back up to the screen of her computer. Staring back at her was a tired Puck. She blinked a few times before confirming that the username that had called her read Puckerman20 and was not Tina's like she had assumed it would be.

"Um, homework?" she wasn't sure why it came out a question. She was certain that's what she was doing.

"I can see that," he told her, looking pointedly at the absurd amount of notebooks and textbooks surrounding her. "What I meant was why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not," she said quirking her head to the side and gesturing at her computer for proof.

"You didn't get my texts or calls?" he questioned.

"I shut my phone of to study," she explained. "I thought it was Brittany again."

"You're not mad at me?" he asked. She wondered why he sounded so nervous.

"No. Why would I be?" Rachel asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Did you do something that would make me angry? How did you find my Skype?"

"I thought maybe you were upset about earlier," he grumbled, leaning back in his desk chair. Rachel couldn't stop the blush that ignited her face when she noticed he was in pajama bottoms and wasn't wearing a shirt. "I got it from Tina. Blaine wouldn't give it to me."

"And why not?" Rachel demanded. She was doing her best to focus on his face.

"Said something about how you might not want me to have it," Puck told her.

"Maybe you should have listened to him," she chastised him. He just scoffed as though it was the most illogical idea she'd ever had. "Did you need something Puck?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly before answering, "Just wanted to work out plans for this thing Schuester wants us to do."

"Oh, yeah. Any ideas?" she questioned as she gathered all her books and piled them on the stand beside her bed.

"What do you want to do?" he asked her.

"I don't care. I think it's silly. Do we even have anything in common that wouldn't make one of us want to die?" she rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure there's something," Puck muttered lowly. "D'you still have your movie passes?"

"No. Tina and I went to see _The Hobbit_," she responded.

"Alright, well I'll pick you up at your house tomorrow at six," he informed her.

"What are we doing?" she inquired.

He smirked and ended the call before Rachel could complain or question him any further. She sat glaring at the black screen where he had been, going over the conversation in her head and wondering what he'd decided they'd be doing. For a second she thought about texting him and telling him she refused to go without more information but in the end decided to let it go and clicked her way over to her facebook account.

She smiled warmly as she accepted a friend request from Brittany, whose display picture had been switched to an image of her, Rachel and Tina dancing in the choir room, Blaine barely visible in the background. Judging by the angle of the picture she assumed Artie had taken it on his phone and sent it to her. Just before she was about to sign out a notification popped up, alerting her to a new friend request from Mike.

"Puck get hold of you?" he instant messaged her as soon as they were confirmed friends.

"Yes. Thank you for checking," she responded, once again getting ready to sign off and go to sleep.

"It's no big deal. He was worried," Mike responded.

"About me being upset with him?" Rachel probed. She didn't understand why he had been so worried about her not responding for an hour.

"I guess. You'd have to ask him," he told her.

"Either way, thank you," she typed. "I'll talk to you later."

"Sure thing," Mike said as a way of bidding her goodbye.

Thursday was a strange event and Rachel was particularly glad it was over and that she was now sitting on her couch watching horrific reality television until Puck came to take her wherever it was that he decided to take her. She supposed her day had started off normally enough, though she wasn't even entirely sure what constituted as normal in her life anymore. She had rode to school with Tina, who pressed her the whole day on her plans with Puck even after Rachel assured her if she knew anything more she would have divulged the information. Blaine spent the day avoiding having to deal with Santana by supplementing Tina's inquisition with what Rachel assumed he thought were helpful reminders or warnings about Puck. Kurt and Mercedes were thankfully acting normal, simply interested mostly in Blaine and joining him in his endeavors to stay away from Quinn and Finn. Artie seemed content to wheel alongside Puck and Mike wherever so they went, participating in their ventures in a way that Finn never had.

Brittany was another story altogether. She had been sitting in front of Rachel's locker when she had arrived and had taken to attending all of Rachel's classes with her. She smiled brightly and took to the work like she wasn't meant to be a year above, the teachers hadn't said anything and when Rachel tried to convince Brittany to return to her own classes she was assured that being with Rachel was completely acceptable. After that Rachel let it go, deciding to just take up the matter with Puck when she got a chance.

Puck, Mike, and Artie had been absent from lunch entirely, which Rachel thought was either to avoid the drama of having to choose between sitting at their usual tables or sitting all together at one or the other. She was also quite sure that whatever they were doing she probably wouldn't approve.

The lunch period in general was a quiet affair, the air looming heavily with the loss of Puck's presence. People watched the door faithfully, murmuring only occasionally to one another, and when they looked away from there they would turn their attention to either the most silent table or the loudest. Their conditions both the cause of Puck's wake; he'd left a deathly air over his normal table, the one that seated Quinn, Santana, and Finn who ate with their heads down and their eyes glued to their trays, and had breathed life into the other, where Brittany gushed and bubbled with happiness as Rachel smiled at her with undivided attention and Blaine and Kurt gazed stupidly at each other, denying they were anything more than friends when Mercedes and Tina had lightheartedly poked fun at them.

At the end of the day Puck had rushed up to Rachel informing her that he had football practice to which Rachel had nodded and looked up at him confusedly. He'd just smirked and told her he'd see her when he got to her house. Finn, who had been standing nearby with Karofsky, had stared at her bizarrely like he was trying his best to figure out why she had suddenly become the key to Pandora's Box. She had smiled at him as sweetly as possible before taking off after Tina.

By the time six had rolled around Rachel was fast asleep on her couch. She was roused from her nap by the sound of her dad speaking lowly in the foyer. Rubbing her face, she sat up just in time to watch her fathers lead Puck into the living room; she straightened out her clothes before returning the small smile Puck was giving her.

"He says he's here for you," Leroy said, whispering and pointing dramatically at him.

"Says his name is Noah," Hiram added.

"Yeah, we're going somewhere," Rachel told them gesturing vaguely.

"On a date?" Leroy asked. Rachel cringed when Puck quirked an eyebrow at her father's blatant excitement.

"It's for the Battle," Rachel explained, rushing over to Puck and beginning to tug him away from her parents. He refused to budge, but she maintained her pulling on his arm; he appeared to be fully enjoying himself.

"The one you're convinced is a diabolical plan set in motion by Barney?" Leroy chuckled, wholly adoring watching Rachel attempt to drag an unwilling Puck from the house.

"Yes, that one!" Rachel exclaimed. "C'mon, _Noah_. We're going to be late."

Puck laughed, finally allowing Rachel to lead him to the front door.

"You don't know if we're going to be late," Puck retorted.

"When are you going to be back?" Hiram called from the doorway. He looked like he didn't care much as he beamed widely and flicked his hand to usher them out the door.

"Hopefully never," Rachel muttered as she slammed the door and continued to haul Puck towards his truck.

Laughing he opened her door and helped her into the passenger side. Rachel scowled at him once he was seated behind the wheel and backing out of her driveway. He ignored her glower for several minutes before glancing over at her and smiling.

"Where are we going?" she demanded.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"I thought you had a plan," Rachel huffed.

"I do," he affirmed. "I was just being nice."

"So will you tell me where we're going?" Rachel prodded.

"We're going to the mall," Puck admitted.

"Okay," Rachel relented.

For the rest of the ride Puck is quiet, but she can tell it's his comfortable type of quiet; like he's content and enjoying himself. Rachel does her best to emulate him, which roughly translates to she is doing her best to squelch the urge to talk incessantly and ask him a multitude of probing questions she is sure he won't appreciate being asked. She taps her leg and tries not to hum, and when they pull into a parking spot she claps out of some sort of mixture between excitement and relief. Puck just remains smiling at her, which Rachel finds unnerving but ignores because she honestly can't think of anything to do with his actions other than grill him about them.

He helps her down and leads her into the mall, his hand splayed across the back of the base of her neck. She expects him to drop his hand once they're through the doors but he doesn't, and she peers up at him out of curiosity but he leads her on, the slight weight of his hand a strange but not unwelcome sensation. His fingers curl slightly as his arm slips further around her, pulling her closer to him as a group of rowdy guys stumbles past them. They double take as they pass, turning around to watch Rachel and Puck, so she guesses that they're most likely freshmen from McKinley and they know who _Puck_ is and that it is odd for him to be waltzing through the mall with his arm around Rachel Berry like it's to be expected. Puck pays them less than no attention and Rachel shrinks further into him just a bit, not comfortable with their eyes on her.

"You okay?" he asks, looking down at her.

"Yeah, it's just… those guys were from school," Rachel explains.

"So?" he shrugs a shoulder, and just hitches his arm more tightly around her.

"Aren't you worried?" Rachel mummers, she gestures between the two of them as they join the line at the movie theater.

"Do they bother you?" he questions, his face contorting as he finally glances back over at the group of teens.

"Um, no," Rachel responded.

"So I would be worried about them because?" he looks at her quizzically.

Deciding to let it go she sighs and changes the subject.

"Brittany followed me to all of my classes today," she informs him.

"I know," he responds, pulling his wallet out as they neared the ticket booth.

"Why would she do that?" Rachel really hoped they weren't seeing some disturbing horror film.

"She wanted to, so we convinced Figgins it would be better for her if she could retake her sophomore year with you," he explained.

"Why would anyone wish to do that?" Rachel asked incredulously.

"Why does Brittany do anything she does?" he responded rhetorically. "I don't question it as long as she's happy."

"That's sweet," Rachel smiled at him. She really did admire the way he treated Brittany, making it obvious that he loved her.

He grunted as he shoved money to the cashier and requested two tickets to see _Les Miserables._

"_Les Mis_?" Rachel wondered excitedly as they moved away from the counter and towards the theater their movie was showing in.

"Have you seen it already?" he asked, nervousness tinting his voice again.

"Not this one," Rachel grinned at him, almost skipping down the aisle.

When she notices that his arm had slipped from her shoulders as a result of her admittedly childish skipping, she turns around to find him watching her with that lazy smile on his face; the one she knows means he is beyond content. And her heart races realizing it's there because of something she's done, so she returns it once he reaches her and she grabs his hand to lead him to what she deems the perfect seats to watch the movie from. He doesn't argue and he doesn't remove his hand from hers once they're seated, even though she's aware she's squeezing it too tightly and she may just be shaking it as she vibrates happily.

He kicks his legs up onto the seats in front of them and slouches down, drawing her closer to him as he pulls their hands into his lap. Rachel almost comments both on his atrocious posture and on the fact that he is not watching the previews; she locks her eyes on his and is about to ask him why he is staring at her when the throbbing beginnings of the first song begins and she whips her head to the screen. He chuckles as her free hand grips his thigh just above the knee in anticipation.

"Watch the movie!" Rachel hisses at him, her eyes glued to the screen in awe.

"Whatever you say, boss," he whispers, playing with one of her fingers causing her to remember he's still got her hand. "I didn't know this was a musical."

"You're an uncultured Neanderthal," she shushes him and he tugs at her playfully.

Rachel is fairly sure he spends most of the movie playing with her hand and maybe mocking the film in his head. She's thankful that he picked this particular movie, because if it had been anything else she knows she'd be doing nothing but concentrating on why in the world he kept hold of her hand or why when she finally broke out in tears he switched the hand that was holding hers with the other and put an arm around her comfortingly; though she did pinch his leg roughly when she heard him snickering at her for crying.

"Did we win?" he grouched lowly when the movie came to a close, looking over at her like it had been her decision to end the film with it being so open to interpretation.

"In the movie or in real life?" Rachel giggled at him as she wiped at her eyes.

"That shit really happened?" he gaped as they stood up to exit the theater.

"Yes, Noah. Do you pay any attention at school? The French Revolution was a real thing, though they didn't break out into song as often," she quipped.

"I pay attention," he defended, putting her back under his arm as they walked towards the exit. Rachel stared at up him blankly. "Some. I do alright."

"Mmmhmm," she hummed. "Look a photobooth!"

"No. No," Puck shook his head, tightening his grip on her.

"Yes! We have to have proof anyways for Mr. Schuester," Rachel insisted, dragging him behind her.

"Schue can suck a—" he grumbled.

"Noah, please!" Rachel shoved him into the booth.

"God woman, calm down," he griped as she situated herself onto his lap.

"Its two dollars," she told him expectantly.

He sighed and scrounged the money out of his pocket and handed it to her. She inserted the money giddily as he grumbled some more. She ignored it.

"What should our frame be?" she asked him as she scrolled through the options.

"Blank," he rumbled.

"Fine," she groaned. "Smile."

She smiled and he looked up at her like she'd gone a bit mad when the first flash went off. He laughed.

"Noah," she snapped, her hand on her hip as she glared down at him still laughing at her. The second flash went off.

The third flash went off as Puck was trying to uncross Rachel's arms.

"You're wasting my two dollars," he exclaimed.

"We've got one more," Rachel said.

She slipped an arm around his shoulders and he pulled her more fully into his lap. She smiled and he made that ridiculous 'I'm a tough football player, I tackle people I don't smile' face as their last flash snapped.

"I hope you're happy," he told her as he drove them back towards her house.

She shrugged, looking down at the silly slip of pictures; he had stuck his copy in his dash. She scoured her bag for a pen before plucking it from where'd he'd stashed it. He glanced over at her from the road and watched as she inscribed onto the back of it, _"You're wasting my two dollars!" Noah and Rachel go to see Les Mis_ _and Noah learns about the French Revolution through a musical_.

"How did your football rehearsal go?" Rachel asks quietly several minutes later.

"It's not a rehearsal," he retorts, looking at her like she's the most entertaining thing in the world. "It's a practice."

"I'm positive they're synonyms," Rachel says. "You guys just like that practice sounds more macho and less like you're wearing tights, even though you kind of are."

"They're not tights," he preserves. "Whatever. Practice was fine. Finn and Karofsky were douches."

"Is that out of the ordinary?" Rachel questions as she studies the defined outline of his jaw. He's clenching it, presumably because he's upset with the way his teammates acted.

"They were douches to me," he clarifies.

"Ah, well," she wasn't sure what exactly to say to him and she felt that saying 'well now you know how it feels' may have been just a little out of line. "I'm sorry. At least you're allowed to tackle them when they make you angry?"

He chuckled at her, so she figures she at least got points for trying. His face relaxes and he glances over at her warmly. Rachel is suddenly hit with the crippling feeling that she is the only one in the car who doesn't fully understand what is going on; the way he looks at her clearly states he's in total control, not only of the situation, but of how he's acting. She doesn't know how to take it, or how to respond. It's staggering really, the thought that Puck had been completely aware of his every move that night, that everything he'd done and said had been purposeful and Rachel was just doing her best not to say something that would upset him. She began wondering if she actually could.

"First game of the season is tomorrow," he tells her. She nods, fiddling with her slip of pictures and unable to form an appropriate response. He seems to understand so he prompts her, "You going?"

"Oh, um, I wasn't planning on it," she can't help but feel it's the wrong answer. So she quickly amends, "I could see what Tina and Blaine are doing."

"Brittany will be there," he tells her soothingly.

"She'll be cheering though. I don't want to sit by myself, someone will probably hurl a drink at me," Rachel responds.

He grimaces as they pull into her driveway, "I don't think that'll be happening."

"I'll ask Tina or Blaine. Or maybe Artie," she does her best to smile at him as he opens her door for her to get down.

"Artie'll be there," he grins, like he's won. And Rachel wonders why it matters at all.

"Okay," she hums. "I guess I'll take this to Mr. Schuester tomorrow."

"Nah, keep it. I'll give him our movie tickets or something. I did not spend two dollars to give Schue pictures of us," Puck says as he hops back into his truck and watches to make sure she gets into her house.

Once she's in her room she slips the pictures onto her memory board, the one that only holds one other picture of her, Tina and Blaine, and she can't help but giggle at how odd they look together. He's twice her size and takes up most of the booth on his own, and her knit sweater clashes oddly with his Pink Floyd tee-shirt, the bun she'd pulled her hair into looking much too prim next to his Mohawk.

School the next day went much the same. Brittany was waiting for her when she got to her locker, insisting Blaine, Tina and Rachel change into the clothes she'd brought for them; red and black McKinley football shirts, black skinny jeans and black boots. Rachel didn't think much of it until she noticed Artie wheeling through the halls in matching attire; when she was coerced into helping Brittany force another pair of matching outfits onto Kurt and Mercedes she really began to question it.

"Why did we suddenly decide to dress like a show choir getting ready to perform a number from the nineties?" Kurt complained at lunch.

"Because Brittany is freakishly scary when she decides she wants something?" Blaine mumbled.

Brittany nodded sagely from her seat as she ordered her dinosaur chicken nuggets into line by the evolutionary likelihood of which would have lived longest had they not been captured by alien cowboys and taken to another planet in order to be used as a means of transportation. Kurt grimaced slightly when Tina and Rachel indulgently discussed the pros and cons of riding around on the dinosaurs Brittany refused to call anything but 'long necks'.

Rachel was the first to realize why they had been dressed by Brittany. Admittedly, she felt stupid for not understanding it any sooner; but when she finally saw Puck that day the Cheerio's reasoning slammed into her like a tidal wave; every game day Puck and Mike came to school wearing their jerseys with black jeans and boots. It was something only they did; Finn had done it a couple of times, but for whatever reason he'd stopped. And now here she was walking around the school in game day attire, which explained why Quinn had taken one look at her and stormed off in the opposite direction, and why Finn had seen Artie and gaped at him like a codfish on dry land.

"Did you know that this was happening?" Rachel whispered to Artie at the beginning of their shared history class.

"What?" he asked evasively.

"You knew! And you didn't try to put a stop to it? It's a miracle we're not all locked in a dumpster," Rachel seethed.

"C'mon, Slim, don't be so dramatic. Somewhere inside that head of yours you know we're perfect safe," Artie laughed.

"We are not," Rachel repudiated.

"Yes, we are. You're just not trusting enough to let go of the past," he stated as if it were obvious. She blinked at him silently. "We're Puck's now, just like Mike and Bri. I'm safe because he publicly inducted me into his little ring of untouchables. Blaine and Tina are fine because they're with you; Mercedes and Kurt get by as long as they stick close to one of us. And you're probably the most feared person in this school, next to Puck himself."

"Excuse me. I couldn't possibly," Rachel stuttered incomprehensively.

"You don't get it, because you didn't see it. You refuse to see any of it," Artie explained in a hushed voice. "I got to watch the fight between you and Bri and Quinn and Santana from the outside. I also got to watch Puck while it was happening. I've never seen him like that. He was livid; he would have destroyed Santana and Quinn if he hadn't been so concerned about you and getting you out of there. You've got nothing to worry about. Not unless one of them decides to challenge Puck."

Rachel stared at him, unable to answer because Brittany had just slid into the seat between them. She tried her best to listen as Brittany and Artie whispered throughout the whole class about the game, about when they'd get there, and where Artie and the rest of them would watch the game from, and where Brittany would meet up with them after it was over. She tried, but her mind wouldn't cooperate. It was stuck trying to decrypt what Artie had said. Part of her wanted to believe what he'd said, and deep down she felt like she could—that she should, that all signs were beginning to point that way. The more dominate part of her, though, was shrieking and wailing and refusing to think it could be true; that putting faith in Puck was the worst idea that anyone could have. If only that thought didn't lead to the torturous feeling that she was betraying him, and herself, in the most villainous of ways.

"We can't sit in the bleachers," she stated hours later as she entered the football stadium with her band matching teammates. None of them had dared to change out of their Brittany appointed uniforms.

"Why not?" Mercedes asked.

"Because we should all sit together, and Artie can't go up there," Blaine explained. "There aren't any seats left in the first rows so we wouldn't all fit. Let's go sit over there."

He pointed over to an empty expanse of grass towards the far end of the field. They fought their way through the crowd, using Artie as a sort of battering ram at the boy's suggestion. Rachel was convinced he got some sort of vindicated satisfaction out of running over people's feet and running into the legs of those who didn't move out of his way quickly enough. They stopped at a section of the field that was sloped gently, giving them a fairly good view of the playing field.

Tina pulled a blanket from the tote she'd carried with her and spread it out over the ground for them to sit on. Blaine and Rachel helped Artie from his chair and onto the ground with them, so he wouldn't feel left out of any of their conversations. As they settled in and Tina pulled snacks and drinks out of her bag, smiling deviously as she explained that she thought concessions prices were just crazy and refused to pay them, Rachel observed as they all peered around, trying to make sense of their surroundings.

"Does anyone have any inclination as to what is occurring?" Rachel asked nervously. She really didn't understand why people were already chanting when the teams were still in the locker rooms.

"Nothing is happening yet," Artie laughed at them as they all looked at him like maybe he was a rule book they could learn from. "They guys'll come out in a bit and then they'll play. You'll be alright as long as you just watch Puck and Mike; that'll be entertaining enough that you shouldn't need to know that much about the rules."

"Works for me," Tina said. Rachel nodded resolutely in agreement.

Moments later she watched on quietly as the team stormed onto the field, moving as though they were one solid wall of red and white. Artie and Blaine whooped loudly, yelling out what Rachel thought must be considered encouraging phrases. She tuned most of it out, her eyes trained on Puck as he led the team onto the field, Mike smiling brightly from beside him. Catching sight of them Puck grinned, he and Mike lifting their helmets up in the air towards them. Artie and Blaine raised a fist in response, continuing their hollering and cheering. After a second's hesitation, where he seemed to be waiting for her to respond to him, she waved. She could practically hear the chuckle she was sure was rumbling in his chest as he shook his head with that smile and lifted his hand to her once again before turning his attention to Coach Beiste.

"Is that legal?" Kurt demanded sometime later.

Rachel let out the breath she had been holding as Puck jumped up from the ground as though he hadn't just been plowed into by a boy who was approximately the size of a freight train. She'd decided halfway through the first quarter that she hated football.

"Yes," Blaine responded once he'd calmed down from calling out derogatory insults to the kid that had tackled Puck. Rachel did not approve of his language, but didn't correct him because she most certainly shared his sentiments. "Puck's a big dude, he can handle it. I had no idea he was so good. I thought it was all hype."

"That's my dude," Artie agreed. "There's no way the Bucks aren't after his ass."

"They haven't said anything to him yet?" Blaine asked.

Rachel shook her head, watching in silent horror as Puck ran down the field, dodging other players. She couldn't tell whether he was any good at it or not, she actually found herself not at all interested in his skill level but instead just hoping he kept getting up after she was inevitably slammed to the ground under a pile of outrageously large teenage boys.

"They've got to be here," Artie insisted. "They've got a scout here, there's no way they don't."

"Definitely," Blaine concurred, craning his head to look at the people seated in the bleachers as though he may be able to see the man in question.

"Mike ain't too shabby neither," Artie clapped as the Titans ran another touchdown in. "Think anyone's looking at him?"

"Oh, God," Rachel groaned as Puck lined up facing the opposing team and crashed into them as the whistle blew. "I'm going to be sick."

"Mike's talked to Michigan," Tina told them, rubbing a hand over Rachel's back. She seemed to enjoy the game just as much as Rachel.

"So has Puck," Rachel supplied.

"No way would they go there," Mercedes guessed. "They're too deep-rooted in scarlet and grey."

"This game is ridiculous!" Rachel cried. "How do they find this enjoyable?"

"Lighten up, Rae," Blaine laughed, pulling her under his arm. "They're fine."

"Don't you think they should have heard from OSU by now?" Kurt wondered aloud. Artie gaped like he'd been personally attacked by the suggestion that Puck wasn't going to get any interest from Ohio State.

"No. OSU is really picky," Blaine shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if they wait to see a couple more games from this year before even beginning to think about it."

"Is it almost over?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, five minutes left," Artie told her. "We slayed 'em!"

Rachel was able to convince her hands to stop shaking as she was pulled into a hug by an ecstatic Brittany as they gathered in the parking lot after the game was over. She was listening lackadaisically, watching the gate Artie had insisted they'd wait near for Puck and Mike to emerge from the locker rooms.

When she finally saw him, she didn't question the relief that flooded her. He had his duffle bag slug over a shoulder and was high fiving his fellow football players, smirking arrogantly as they clapped him on the back and raucously congratulated one another. Mike was already heading their way when he turned and caught sight of her, sitting next to Brittany on the tailgate of his truck. The smile that took over her face as she realized she suddenly had full possession of his attention was unintentional and more heartfelt than she'd admit. The fact that he returned it almost instantly should have surprised her; she blamed it all the adrenaline exhaustion.

Brittany jumped down and into his arms, hugging him tightly before moving on to Mike. He joked happily with their little group, doing that silly handshake with an excited Artie and a confused but grinning Blaine before tossing his bag into the back of his truck and leaning next to Rachel. She hardly faltered at all when he casually threw his arm around her and pulled her close, thankful when only Tina looked at her inquisitively, the rest of them apparently accepting the action as routine.

"Yo, Puck!" a junior on the football team called as a group rushed over to him and Mike. "Man, are you guys coming to the party?"

"I'm headin' home," Puck said disinterested, his arm moving to her lap as he grabbed her hand. "Mike, you goin'?"

"Nah, dude," Mike replied in a similar voice. "We've got shit to do tomorrow early."

"Alright, well," the guys stuttered.

Rachel ignored their questioning gazes as they kept flicking to her with astounded confusion. Turning away from them, she tucked herself further into Puck, hiding as much behind his arm as she could and placing a hand on the nape of his neck. She smiled into his shoulder when he squeezed her hand.

"You sure, Puck?" a different guy asked, one who kept looking at Rachel like she was a math problem he couldn't solve.

"Do I look like I'm going to your fuckin' party?" Puck growled roughly, his eyes narrowing.

"No disrespect man," the guys held his hands up. "Just not used to you two not coming to the victory party."

Rachel assumed it was the wrong response as Puck stood to his full height. His hand fell from Rachel's, but she kept her hand steady on his back.

"Finn's going," the first guy added.

"Fuck Finn," Puck laughed, just as the quarterback walked by.

"What the fuck is your problem, Puck?" Finn asked aghast, and fed up.

"Let's just go, Puck," Mike interrupted.

"Fuck that," Finn snapped. "Just because you've got some new freak to bang doesn't mean you can treat me like I'm lower on the food chain than your band of losers."

"You say fuckin' shit to me again, kid, and you better run," Puck seethed, shoving Finn back into the other players.

Rachel jumped off the tailgate as Mike shoved everyone back from the confrontation, putting her other hand on Puck's chest. He glanced down at her briefly before returning to his fight with Finn.

"Puck," she murmured.

"This is fucked," Finn flailed his arm. "What does she do to get you so wrapped up in this?"

"Mind your fuckin' business," Puck hissed, but he didn't move. "Get the fuck outta here."

"Noah," Rachel pled before they could continue. "Can we please go?"

Puck looked down at her, her eyes wide and pleading for him to stop, and wrapped his arm around her, stepping into her arms as a silent concession. He jerked his head at their friends, who stood ogling them with the same looks that had taken over the football player's faces when Rachel had spoken, telling them to get going. They disbanded hesitantly, as Puck loaded Rachel into his truck. She waited patiently for him to slam the tailgate shut, watching as she whispered harshly to a shaken Finn in the rearview mirror.

"You okay, doll?" he asked once he'd climbed into the car.

"Yeah, I don't like when you fight," she told him hesitantly.

"Finn needs to learn his place," he grunted.

"He's just confused," Rachel said.

"Finn is always confused, so it's not an excuse," Puck retorted.

"I guess," she responded, not sure if she should press him on his confusing actions.

"Look," he ground out. "I'm sorry, okay? He can't talk about you like that. You want me to just fuckin' let 'im?"

"Everyone talks about me like that," Rachel reminded him. "I don't want you to fight with your friend…"

"Finn is not my friend," Puck told her. "Finn is just around. And fuck people talkin' about you. Fuckin' with you is same as fuckin' with me. They'll learn sooner or later."

"Why?" Rachel challenged. He remained silent. "Noah?"

"Because that's just how it is," he stated.

"That's not a reason, Noah," she insisted as he pulled into her driveway.

"You call me Noah," he said it like it was the answer to all her questions.

"So what?" she demanded as she hopped out of the car and stormed up her walk, Puck trialing behind her with his hands shoved into his pockets.

"So what?" he repeated gruffly. "Have you ever heard anyone else call me Noah?"

"No," Rachel sighed. "But I don't see what…"

"No one else calls me Noah," he cut her off. "Not Mike, not my fuckin' mom. You're the only person I let call me by my real name. So people can fuck off, and if they don't stop fuckin' with you I'll make them. It's as simple as that. You're mine."

"I'm not a possession," Rachel rebutted, paying no attention to the way her heart had speed up.

"That's not what I mean and you know it," Puck sighed. "Just… I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

Rachel glared up at him, studying his face. He looked tired, but his face had that gentle quality she'd come to know meant he'd been sincere so she nodded, feeling bad she'd upset him.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

He smiled, just a small smile, but it was enough so she returned it. Her heart picked back up as he took a step closer to her, there was something in his eyes that struck her deep, down to her soul, racking her with shivers as he reached out and pulled her into his chest. He held her to him, flush so he was touching her everywhere, his free hand playing in her hair.

"Noah?" she questioned.

Rachel felt the hum tremor through his body, her hand on his chest tightening as he leaned into her, pulling her to him until he was pressing his lips gently to hers. She could tell he grinned when she let a surprised gasp slip from her mouth. Nipping at her bottom lip playfully, he gave her a moment to breathe before he captured her lips again. It was easy and full, and she could sense the peace as it settled over him.

That thrilled her, the thought that this, the simple act of her letting him kiss her brought a peacefulness over him that she'd never known him to have. She could feel it in the way he clung to her, his hand fisting the waist of her jeans like a lifeline, his other cradling her head like he was finally being allowed to hold the most precious thing in his life.

"I have to get some sleep tonight," Puck said, pulling away from her reluctantly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she whispered. It was so quiet she was surprised she'd heard it herself, but it succeeded in helping his shoulders relax.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Is Tina picking you up?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're picking up Blaine and Brittany too," Rachel told him, proud she'd been able to from the sentence to begin with. Her voice only shuddered a little, as he rubbed a finger over her lips. She figured that was a victory.

"Okay. You'll let me know if you need anything?" he asked.

"Yes, Noah," with that one she'd almost managed to roll her eyes. If he hadn't actually looked so concerned that it made her stomach twist she would have managed it, she was sure.

He nodded, leaning down to press another kiss to her. Then she was watching him walk away, and dazedly making her way to her room. Rachel's last coherent thought before she fell asleep was that she was glad she'd packed for their trip earlier because if she had had to try to do it then she probably would have forgotten bug spray.

* * *

**Hiiii. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and faved and stalked... Let me know what you all think.**

**Also. PSA: I know that LeRoy has a capital R. And I recognize that the council has made a decision, but seeing as it is a stupid ass decision I have elected to ignore it. (I'm lazy.)**

**Next time on FAWMBR we shall camp.**


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